PAKISTAN NAMES FORMER QUICKIE YOUNIS AS NEW CRICKET COACH

The Pakistan Cricket Board appointed former Test captain and fast bowler Waqar Younis as the new coach of the national team.
The 40-year-old Younis will replace Intikhab Alam.
PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said Saturday that Younis has been given a contract until December 2011 and will be paid a monthly salary of Rs650,000 (Dh27,972). He said Wasim Akram, another former Test paceman, was also considered for the coaching job.
"We had a choice in between Younis and Wasim Akram, but since Akram was busy with his commitments in media we decided to appoint Younis as the new coach," Butt said, adding that former Test batsman Ejaz Ahmad will assist Younis as fielding and batting coach.
The PCB had been looking for a new coach since Australia beat Pakistan 3-0 in the Test series and 5-0 in the One-day series in January.
Younis, who formed a lethal pace combination with Akram in the '90s, lives in Sydney and will be coming to Pakistan this week to take up his new assignment.
He has previously served as bowling coach with the national team in 2007 and then on the tour of Australia earlier this year.
Career
Younis took 373 wickets in 87 Test matches and 416 scalps in 262 one-day internationals before retiring in 2003. He also led Pakistan in 17 Test matches and 62 ODIs.
Butt said he had considered bringing in a coach from abroad, but that all the candidates were too expensive and unwilling to live in Pakistan.
"Foreign coaches were demanding big money and were willing to work with our team only when it's touring some other country," Butt said. "This was not acceptable to us."
Former coach Alam, who took over in October 2008 from Geoff Lawson, has been appointed as director cricket academies and Butt said the former Test spinner will groom youngsters in cricket academies at Lahore and Karachi. "Soon we will have two more academies in Multan and Islamabad and Alam's services will be utilized in all these four academies," Butt said.
Former all rounder Asif Iqbal said Younis' appointment would help younger players who would have faced difficulties in communicating with a foreign coach due to language barriers. "It's better for Pak-istan cricket that a local coach has been appointed. The cultural differences would have been a major issue, especially with the present bunch of boys," Iqbal said.
Iqbal, also rejected concerns over Younis' lack of experience and qualifications.
He said Younis has had an outstanding international career, and also enjoys the support of players, which is the key to coaching the team at the highest level.

Will Waqar make Pakistan a lethal bowling force once again? Will his bowling expertise help him coach batsmen better? Or will it be a handicap?