Pakistan board rope in Mudassar Nazar

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed Mudassar Nazar, the former opener, as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the PCB, announced this at a press conference after a meeting of the board's Ad-hoc Committee in which a number of issues were discussed. Shaharyar said the names of Intikhab Alam, Mushtaq Muhammad and Jalaluddin had also been considered for the director's appointment.

Mudassar, 50, played 76 Tests and 122 one-day internationals (ODIs) from 1976 to 1989. He has in the past been coach of the NCA, between January 2001 and October 2002, during the reign of the previous chairman, Tauqir Zia. He doubled up as the coach of the Pakistan team during this period, until he was sacked in September 2002. He had also served as national team coach in 1993, although the stint was both brief and turbulent. Additionally, he has been involved in Kenyan cricket, having served as director of the Nairobi Cricket Academy as well as coach of the national team last year.

"He is the best choice among the lot and we believe he'll be doing his best to groom the talent at an early stage," said Shaharyar, adding that the terms and conditions and duration of Mudassar's contract would be announced in a few days' time. Further details of Mudassar's appointment will be finalised on his arrival in Pakistan, expected in next couple of days. The chairman pointed out that Mudassar would make appointments of other posts at the NCA, though he was unable to confirm an exact date when the NCA would start functioning.

Although the committee was expected to discuss the question of whether the board should hire professional, paid selectors, the topic wasn't discussed. Neither was any decision reached on who will be appointed manager of the Pakistan team on its tour to England this summer. Zaheer Abbas was appointed, initially, till the World Cup as a manager and he accompanied the Pakistan team on its tour to Sri Lanka last month. His status, currently though, is unclear.

The committee did, however, appeal to the government in helping the board take control of stadiums in Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar so that the matches of the 2011 World Cup can be successfully staged at these venues. "A lot of effort is needed to upgrade the existing infrastructure in terms of increasing capacity in the stadiums," said Shaharyar. "Besides adding facilities including laying of new pitches and installation of replay screens."

The committee has also recommended that a feasibility report on setting up a cricket channel run by the PCB should be prepared by mid-July. Shaharyar has long argued that the fact that regional teams attract poor sponsorship is due in large part to the fact that first-class cricket isn't televised traditionally in Pakistan and so businesses show no interest in sponsoring a regional team if they can't get television exposure. "Keeping in view the situation the committee recommended that a feasibility report for setting up a cricket channel by the PCB should be prepared by mid of July."