Lawson

Karachi: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq and his successor Shoaib Malik have welcomed the appointment of Australian Geoff Lawson as coach of the senior team.

“Lawson is a good choice if the players want him because a good working relationship between a coach and players is necessary to get good results,” Inzamam said on Tuesday.

Lawson was confirmed as the coach on Monday by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which chose him over the two other candidates, Dav Whatmore and Richard Done.

The appointment drew criticism from other former captains, including Javed Miandad, Intikhab Alam and Zaheer Abbas, who questioned the decision to employee another foreign coach.

Lawson, who will arrive in Pakistan on August 15 to take up his two-year assignment, is the third foreigner to be named as coach after Richard Pybus and Bob Woolmer.

Woolmer, who died of suspected heart failure during the World Cup, also faced a lot of criticism during his three-year tenure.

Inzamam, who retired from one-day Internationals and relinquished the captaincy during the World Cup after Pakistan’s first-round exit in March, backed Lawson.

“There is no doubt we have some great players. I have learnt a lot about batting from Javed Miandad, our former coach. But coaching nowadays is also about man management and foreigners tend to be better at this,” said Inzamam.

“I don’t know Lawson, but the players have spoken well of him and they think he has a different but more aggressive style of coaching which suits the way we play our cricket,” he said.

Malik added: “Lawson is known to be a positive-minded coach and during our short meeting with him in Abbotabad, when he came for his interview, he impressed us with his ideas and behaviour.”

Inzamam also said he was not concerned at not being given the new central contracts announced by the board on Monday.

“I want to play Test cricket because I feel I still have cricket left in me. But my philosophy is simple, if god and fate has ordained me to play Test cricket no one can stop me from doing that. If it is no longer in my fate, no matter what happens, I will not play again,” he said.

Malik, however, denied the players had spoken ill of Whatmore, saying they had given their opinion about all three candidates in a positive manner. “The final decision was with the board and it had nothing to do with players,” he said.

Controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar also hailed Lawson’s appointment and said the Australian had the potential to transform the Pakistan cricket team into “world beaters”.

“I am excited that he is coming to Pakistan, it’s thrilling. He can lift us to that level where we can become the world beaters,” said Akhtar.

“I am confident that Lawson will help us beat Australia because he will know their weaknesses and strong points. I can’t wait for the Australian series. I want to play in at least one series win over Australia,” he said.

Pakistan are slated to host world champions Australia in March and April next year.

Akhtar explained that Lawson’s appointment would benefit him personally as well as fellow pacemen.

“He (Lawson) is someone who believes fast bowlers can win matches and I will definitely be able to lift the level of my performance under him. Once the fast bowlers deliver the team will benefit,” he said.

Malik backed his bowler’s view.

“I want to see how the players react to working with a bowler coach. Bowling has been our strength and if Lawson can improve their performances it will mean success for us,” Pakistan captain said.