Owais Mughal
Former Australian cricketer Geoff Lawson has been named as the new coach of Pakistan’s national cricket team. Probably an old news by now; but we still want to have a discussion on it.
In the photo above Geoff Lawson is seen shaking hands with Mudassar Nazar after his job interview in Bhurban, Pakistan on June 18, 2007
This particular job opening in Pakistan created an unprecedented interest among the Australians and three of them viz. Dave Whatmore, Richard Done and Geoff Lawson applied for it. Geoff Lawson emerged as the winning candidate and his appointment was announced by the PCB on July 16, 2007. Lawson, has been awarded a two-year contract which is open for renewal, is expected to take charge from Aug 15, 2007.
Talking about Lawson’s appointment, PCB chief Naseem Ashraf said:
“We want a coach who can take Pakistan to the 2011 World Cup”.
Geoff Lawson had this to say about the position:
“It is such a talented squad they have over there (in Pakistan)…When you look at the class of players they have, you just have to be excited about being involved with them…hopefully, I will bring a fresh approach to the coaching of Pakistan team. Personally, I have analysed a lot of international cricket and will bring in some fresh ideas”.
Lawson is Pakistan’s third foreign coach and succeeds Bob Woolmer who died during the World Cup campaign in the Caribbean last March.
Lawson’s appointment has not been witout controversy though. Some of Pakistan’s former cricketers are not happy. Intikhab Alam and Sarfraz Nawaz are two of them. We can either consider their remarks credible or drop them as cases of ‘sour grapes’ but I do want to quote words of former cricketer, captain and coach of Pakistan, Javed Miandad, who said:
“I am baffled. Even if you want to hire a foreigner, then why not do it on merit? If merit is the benchmark then Whatmore knows subcontinental teams better than Lawson. Why bring a foreigner when you have your own former players? Our coming generations will now know only about Lawsons and Woolmers and will forget their own players. Teams like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Canada need a foreign coach because they don’t have their own former players, not India and Pakistan who have many great players.”
Geoff Lawson however, seems to have good support from current Pakistani players and that is important. Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has welcomed Lawson’s appointment. Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has also welcomed the decision and said:
“I am excited that he is coming to Pakistan, it’s thrilling. He can lift us to that level where we can become world beaters. I have always loved the Australian mentality. They only play to win and even if they lose they put up their best till the end. I am confident that Lawson will help us beat Australia because he will know their weaknesses and strong points.”
And here at ATP we want to wish good luck to both Pakistani team as well as Geoff Lawson on their new journey together.
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I like the views of Moin Khan who said that foreign coach is needed at a more junior level than our national team. I think the reason why Woolmer didn’t fully succeed was because he had little influence over state of things in presence or of half a dozen “super stars”, unprofessional players and an arrogant captain. We need to fix things from bottom-up. If Inzamam-like mentality exists in the team then there is no way this team can become the likes of Australia (I mean I don’t know why he never even tried batting at no.3 when the whole world thought it was needed! – you need to be dynamic in your approach – come’on). Like the way we say after every failure in Pakistan that”is mein Allah ke marzee thee.” If we say this to ourselves after every loss then we won’t get anywhere even with Bob Woolmers or Geoff Lawsons of any game. Look at where we were in Squash, Cricket and Hockey 10 years ago and where we are now. Our player’s basic attitude towards the game need to change – it will fix most of the problems, no matter what game it is.
I just kept thinking
1. Don’t we have any one from our own country of 160 million.
2. How can we afford to pay him 8,000,000 Pak Rupees per year. (correct me if I am wrong with this figure, but I heard it from two different news channels)
I do have some memories of Geoff Lawson as a bowler. Australia toured Pakistan in 1982. I was 11 years old and my passion for cricket was at its height. I used to watch each-and-every ball of even a three-day match on TV. Geoff Lawson played against Pakistan in an ODI at Hyderabad. This was the same match in which Jalaluddin (remeber him?) did a hat-trick for Pakistan. Lawson bowled pretty well in that match and gave 29 runs in his 8 overs and took the wicket of Mohsin Khan.
Later in 1983, Pakistan toured Australia for Pak-WI-Aus, Benson and Hedges series and Lawson was at his best then and never gave more than 30 runs in his 10 overs against Pakistan. I believe he played 4 matches against Pakistan in that series.
This is on a tangent, but I guess Lawson though not the best, was still a very good bowler in his prime.
Somebody above said the right thing that energy and attitude matters in an interview and that may be the big plusfor him versus Dave Whatmore. good luck to him
Kamran Abbasi’s take on Lawson. He’s calling him Henry 1, the Australian king of Pakistan. Read here.
Cricinfo is reporting that Lawson has offered an olive branch to Miandad by saying:
“I’d like to get Javed on board to be part of the coaching crew, to be part of the system and help out, because he was an outstanding player and a tough bloke as well….We could do with a few of those characteristics among the guys at the moment. I’m hoping to talk to all those people and see what contributions they can make. We can’t control outside influences but it would be good if we could have some of those outside influences being positive.”
Javed has also replied positively by saying:
“I was and am always available whenever Pakistan cricket would need me, ….(but) it is premature to say anything on it. There is no such offer at the moment so I would only think about it if there is any possibility in the future.”
“We want a coach who can take Pakistan to the 2011 World Cup
Adnan, Hope you are right. Let us hope it all works out in the end.
It wont make any difference on any Pakistan team, whether its cricket or hockey or anyother. They will continue to perform in the same inconsistent manner. The root cause to all problems in Pakistan is lack of professionalism.