It is highly unlikely that the Pakistan Cricket Board will bank on people from overseas to run its cricket team after the World Cup.
KARACHI: Going by its sour experiences with foreign coaches and support staff, it is highly unlikely that the Pakistan Cricket Board will bank on people from overseas to run its cricket team after the World Cup.
After the well documented skirmishes between the PCB Director cricket operations Saleem Altaf and Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer since he was appointed in June, 2004, the PCB is now facing problems with their South African trainer Grant Compton, who is posted at the National Cricket Academy.
Sources in the PCB said that Compton had left the PCB Chairman Dr Naseem Ashraf after recently making a set of demands which are being described as 'unjust.'
"Compton has got a six-month extension on his contract. He now wants the board to provide him with a laptop, two business class tickets every two months and an increment of 500 pounds in his monthly tax free salary of 3500 pounds," a well-informed source said.
"His wife who is also a trainer was attached with the Pakistan women's team but her contract expires in March. Compton wants the board to extend her contract by three months so that they can both decide after six months their future course of action," the source said.
He said Compton had outlined his demands directly to the Chairman in a letter which has been put on hold for now.
"Yes, Compton has made some demands but they are not part of his existing contract so I don't think we are going to fulfill them," Saleem Altaf said.
The intriguing part according the source is that when Compton held a meeting with Altaf to discuss his demands he justified them by stating that he and his wife required a short vacation after every two months as it was like spending time in a prison at the NCA.
"He basically said he wants an increment as a sort of of hardship allowance for working in Pakistan," the source claimed.
Compton, who has also worked with the injured Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul, was hired on the recommendations of Woolmer who also brought in the Pakistan team trainer and physiotherapist both of them South Africans.
"Woolmer himself has had several spats with the board over some matters and demands and the board recently was not happy with his insistence that the kit and clothing sponsors of the senior team, Slazenger, make their things from South Africa after the company lodged a complaint with the board," the source said.
The above incidents illustrate well that the Pakistan board is not just facing problems with its team but also with its officials and it is highly unlikely Woolmer would be offered the chance to extend his contract after the World Cup and this goes for the support staff as well.
Many former players and critics have questioned the purpose of having foreign trainers and physio's given the spate of injury problems being faced by the team at the moment.
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