Haroon new chief selector, Arthur to return as head coach

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed former Test cricketer Haroon Rasheed as the national men’s team chief selector.

Haroon, who was a member of Shahid Afridi-led interim selection committee which was appointed only for home New Zealand ODI series, has been appointed permanent chief selector.

“I confirm the appointment of Haroon Rasheed as the new chief selector,” announced PCB chief Najam Sethi during a press conference in Lahore on Monday. “We don’t want to create any further misunderstandings. There was a lot of speculation. Haroon will get time to make his team and work for the betterment of Pakistan cricket,” he added. Haroon, who played 23 Tests and 12 ODIs, has resigned as a management committee member, said Sethi.

Last December, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is PCB’s patron, appointed a 14-member management committee under the leadership of Sethi to restore the board’s 2014 constitution.

Sethi appointed Afridi as interim chief selector for home ODI series against New Zealand. Haroon, Abdur Razzaq and Rao Iftikhar Anjum were part of the interim selection committee. After the New Zealand series concluded, PCB reportedly wanted Afridi to continue but the former all-rounder refused a permanent role citing personal commitments.

Sethi said Haroon was the right man for this job in his view. “I have worked with him personally. He is a competent individual and I have given him free hand to make his team and take decisions,” he added.

Haroon previously served as national men’s team chief selector from 2015 to 2016 and manager of the national team from 2003 to 2005. Sethi also said that Mickey Arthur would most likely be returning as the head coach of Pakistan men’s cricket team.

There had been reports that the negotiations with former coach Mickey Arthur couldn’t materialise owing to his long-term contract with Derbyshire. However, Sethi revealed that he is in direct contact with Arthur and the negotiations are moving in the right direction. “I had not closed the chapter of Mickey Arthur. I am personally in negotiations with Mickey and we have resolved 90 percent of issues.

Hopefully, we will very soon give you the news that Mickey will be joining us,” Sethi said. “When Mickey comes back, he will make his own team. We will resolve the rest of the issues in next one or two days,” he added.

Sethi heaped praise on Arthur’s achievements as a coach and his close association with Pakistan players. “Arthur has won us the Champions Trophy. He is a highly regarded coach. No coach knows Pakistan more than Mickey,” he added.