Photo Credit: Pakistan Cricket Board
The PCB reiterates the process followed and adopted in the review, analysis and appointment of the six Cricket Association coaches revolved solely around meritocracy and transparency.
The following was the procedure, which was in line with the five-year strategy:
- All 62 existing PCB coaches were afforded a comprehensive four-phase review process. This was the first review conducted in nearly two years
- Phase one provided all coaches a 35-question online survey, which challenged coaches to identify how they rated themselves in areas of Relationships, Communication, Planning, Compliance, Success, Personal Development and Skill Knowledge – all skill areas that PCB values highly in our coaches
- Phase two involved a variety of colleagues providing each coach 360 degree survey feedback on the same 35 questions
- Phase three involved each coach receiving a summary in the form of a ‘Self Profile’ plus ‘360 Feedback’ profile, including strengths, work ons and a development plan for each coach
- Phase four involved all 62 coaches afforded a 40-minute video interview with Grant Bradburn, Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Aslam
- In accordance with PCB’s philosophy of providing equal and fair opportunity, the PCB advertised the roles in which it also invited coaches from outside the PCB system to express their interest
- The PCB received 130 applications from across the country of which 24 candidates were shortlisted and interviewed as per the eligibility criteria. From this, 15 coaches were employed.
- The coaching appointments for the 2020-21 season were jointly made by the High Performance panel, ratified by Nadeem Khan, Director – High Performance and Chief Executive Wasim Khan. For the 2020-21 season, the High Performance panel included Grant Bradburn (Head of High Performance Coaching), Saqlain Mushtaq (Head of International Player Development) and Shahid Aslam (former Manager – Coach Education and presently National Men’s Team Assistant). Members of the PCB Cricket Committee were kept abreast of the process and developments.
- The eight former international cricketers and seven ex-first class cricketers were appointed for the 2020-21 season
- The former international cricketers, who were appointed as coaches following a robust process are: Abdul Razzaq, Aizaz Cheema, Basit Ali, Faisal Iqbal, Ghulam Ali, Humayun Farhat, Irfan Fazil and Zafar Iqbal. The seven former first-class cricketers are: Aftab Khan, Aslam Qureshi, Fahad Masood, Habib Baloch, Hafiz Majid Jahangir, Hanif Malik, and Mohammad Sadiq.
- The average age of the new 2020-21 domestic coaches is 43 as compared to just under 55 of the outgoing coaches. This is in sync with the PCB’s objective of attracting, involving and utilising recently retired cricketers and grooming them into senior leadership roles
- Following the on-going development of a National High Performance delivery framework, the freshness, new ideas and experiences of this cohort, will bring energy and impetus, as we look to deliver in line with a more structured, unified system.
- As mentioned in last week’s announcement release, the PCB will utilise the investment made on the released coaches by assigning them responsibilities in due course as per their strengths, experiences, abilities and capabilities
- The Academies budget for 2020-21 is PKR167million, which is consistent to the 2019-20 budget. The only tweaks have been on the programmes, objectives and targets to align these with the PCB’s five-year strategy
- While the PCB would prefer future coach appointments to be Pakistan nationals, it will not compromise on the quality of coaching needed to achieve our ambitions and will continue to draw from the best coaching practices from around the world, to bring our own coaches up to the quality required for our players to deliver on the world stage.
- Work has only just begun on developing local coaches and the PCB is committed to investing time and resource, before they can take over senior leadership roles, both domestically and internationally.
- In this regard and to take coach development forward in line with international standards and expectations, modern practices will be adopted, focusing on quality and ongoing reviews, assessments and development of coaches. The PCB has appointed highly respected and credible Grant Bradburn as the Head of High Performance Coaching. He will be supported by Manager Coach Education, who has been part of the PCB system for the past few years
- In continuation to the restructuring and further strengthening of its National High Performance Centre, the PCB has appointed Grant Bradburn to replace Ali Zia (ex-SGM – Academies), Saqlain Mushtaq has taken on a newly created role in line with High Performance needs moving forward, Mohammad Yousuf has replaced Mansoor Rana (now part of the men’s national team management) in the department , Atiq-uz-Zaman has replaced Abdul Majeed (now part of the men’s national team management) and Mohammad Zahid has taken over from Mohsin Kamal as bowling coach
“The PCB assures all its fans, followers and supporters that it has and will continue to work without any fear or favour with only the best interests of Pakistan cricket at heart. It will continue to follow meritocracy and create pathways for player support personnel so that we ultimately become a self-reliant country.”
Media release on the coaches appointment is available here.
