Anwar tipped as batting coach

Former opener Saeed Anwar is expected to be hired by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as a batting coach for the national team. A statement released by the PCB said Anwar had been approached by chairman Ijaz Butt and that he had emerged as a prime candidate.

"Chairman PCB today had a discussion with Saeed Anwar regarding utilisation of his services for cricket. The chairman and Saeed Anwar will meet in the coming week to discuss the plan in detail," the statement said.

Anwar, 40, reportedly offered to assist Pakistan, who have been struggling at the top of the innings recently. Butt hoped Anwar's expertise would help the team. "I am thankful for Saeed's encouraging response and his offer to assist PCB and Pakistan players. I am sure Saeed will be able to contribute a lot to Pakistan cricket," Butt said.

As an international player Anwar made his one-day international on New Year's Day 1989, and entered Test cricket two years later. In 55 Tests he scored 4052 runs at 45.52, including 11 hundreds, but he achieved global fame through his exploits in ODIs.

The PCB, in the interim, have appointed Javed Miandad as the batting adviser to the national team in preparation for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. Pakistan collapsed thrice in the first two Tests to lose the series against Sri Lanka and Miandad's guidance, the board believes, will help the team address the problem. "We have requested Miandad help our team's batting before next month's Champions Trophy in South Africa and take care of (the team's) problems," Butt said at a press conference. "We had batting failures and I will be meeting each and every player here on Friday."

Miandad was a former coach of the Pakistan team and is currently the director general of the PCB and a member of the PCB Governing Board.