The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has selected six foreign coaches for the domestic season 2022-2023, including two former England international players. Former England international Paul Franks will lead Central Punjab after serving as deputy head coach at Nottinghamshire county in the English division for the past ten years.
Sindh will be captained by Paul Nixon, a former international wicketkeeper and batter who guided the Jamaica Tallawahs to two CPL titles. Nixon, who is now the head coach of Leicestershire County, will leave that position soon to accept the new position in Pakistan.
In addition to these two head coaches, four more foreign coaches have been hired. Bilal Shafayat (Central Punjab) and John Sadler (Sindh) will be the fielding coaches, and Richard Stonier (Central Punjab) and Ian Fisher will be the strength and conditioning coaches (of Sindh). Foreign coaches have been introduced to local cricket in order to encourage variety. When you bring in educators from different countries, you provide diversity and new perspectives. These seasoned international instructors will eventually help the athletes’ growth by collaborating with the local coaches.
In a statement, PCB Director of High-Performance Nadeem Khan stated,
The inclusion of foreign coaches into domestic cricket is intended to diversify the game. When you bring coaches from other countries together, you promote diversity and new ideas. These experienced international coaches collaborating with local coaches will ultimately aid in the development of the players.
We’re also bringing in fielding and strength and conditioning experts. This will benefit our local coaches and increase competition in both areas of the game. He believes the players will gain from them in the long run.
“These coaches will work for the Pakistan Cup and the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.” Initially, the two head coaches from Central Punjab and Sindh were asked to observe how our approach works and how much it benefits the players. We will evaluate the performances at the end of the season, Khan added.
