Pakistan set to hire Morne Morkel as bowling coach, Mickey Arthur brought as consultant on remote basis
Mar 29, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 29 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is all set to hire South Africa internationals Morne Morkel and Andrew Puttick as bowling and batting coaches respectively of the senior men's side, ESPNCricinfo reported on Wednesday.
The board has also agreed to bring on-board Mickey Arthur as a consultant remotely, allowing him to continue with England county Derbyshire as a head coach as well.
Arthur will play his role remotely and was also assigned to form the coaching panel consisting of overseas personnel. Former Pakistan fielding coach Grant Bradburn will be the head coach while Cliffe Deacon (physiotherapist) and Drikus Saaiman (strength and conditioning) will carry on with their respective jobs.
Morkel will formally join the team after the conclusion of his Indian Premier League (IPL) commitments with Lucknow Super Giants, where he serves as a bowling coach. He was with the Namibia team in its coaching setup during the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. He presently is also the bowling coach of the SA20 side Durban Super Giants. He also had a stint in coaching with New Zealand during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup held this year in Pakistan.
Puttick, 42 will be joining Pakistan next month. He made only one international appearance for Proteas in 2005 and has worked with the national side as a batting consultant. He also served as the batting coach of the senior national women's side during this year's T20 World Cup. He has over 18,000 domestic cricket runs during his stints with Western Province and Cape Cobras.
Bradurn, a former New Zealand all-rounder, had previously been with the Pakistan coaching set-up for three years before he resigned in 2021. He first worked as a fielding coach since September 2018, before he took over a new role at the High-Performance Centre (HPC). In May 2020, when the National Academy was revamped, he quit the job with 18 months left in his contract during the tenure of Ramiz Raja as PCB chief.
The full-time coaching staff will be on location, while Arthur will work on a remote basis. He will visit Lahore next month and will also return before the ODI World Cup in a preparatory camp. He would not travel for any bilateral series with Pakistan, but will fulfil his commitments with Derbyshire.
Pakistan was left without full-time coaching staff as the contracts of Saqlain Mushtaq and Shaun Tait were not renewed. With an interim set-up, they played a T20I series against Afghanistan, which they lost 2-1. Pakistan will play five ODIs and five T20Is against New Zealand at home from April 14.
