KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket authorities have sought applications from all over the cricketing world as they stepped up efforts to find a head coach for the national team by deciding to advertise the job. Intikhab Alam, who heads a committee entrusted with the job of finding a suitable coach, told ‘The News’ from Lahore on Thursday that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has set a 15-day deadline adding that the committee will sit down after September 26 to short-list the coaches.

 “The PCB will place an advertisement on its website besides trying to post it on the websites of other cricket boards and the International Cricket Council (ICC),” said the former Pakistan captain. “The idea is to assure that we attract maximum possible applicants from whom we can find the best man for the job,” he added. “Any coach interested in the job will have till September 26 to apply for it,” he said.

“After the 26th, the committee will meet in Karachi to short-list the candidates.” Intikhab said that the committee that includes former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas, ex-Test wicketkeeper Col (retd) Naushad Ali and is assisted by former Test opener Ramiz Raja, also has the mandate to directly contact coaches at home and abroad for the job. “We will explore all possible options and try our best to find a good coach for our team,” he said. On Thursday, Intikhab, Zaheer and Naushad met with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt at the Board headquarters in Lahore. The committee members were told by Butt that they have a free hand to find a suitable coach for the Pakistan team. But Intikhab made it clear that the final decision to appoint a coach will be made by the PCB chairman.

 “The committee’s job is to find the best possible man for the job and made its recommendation to the Board,” he said. “We will scrutinize credentials of the applicants and will interview the shortlisted ones.” He said that the committee will take PCB time before finailising its recommendation. “I can’t give you any timeframe because we will only get to know about our list of candidates on September 26,” he said. Intikhab ruled out the option of appointing a coach from within the committee members. He said that the details of the first meeting of the committee have been emailed to Ramiz, who is currently in Zimbabwe to commentate on the current series.

However, it is expected that the committee will finalise its recommendations sometimes next month ahead of Pakistan’s ‘home’ series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates later this year. Pakistan were forced to start searching for a head pcb coach after Waqar Younis announced late last month that he will be quitting from the job after the ongoing tour of Zimbabwe because of health reasons. Waqar, a former Pakistan Test pacer, began his stint as national coach last March.