Sohail lands Pakistan academy post

Aamer Sohail, the former Pakistan captain and opener, has been appointed director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), replacing Mudassar Nazar who left for a coaching post with the ICC last month.

The decision was taken by the PCB's governing board who met today for the first time under the chairmanship of Ijaz Butt. Sohail had been widely touted to pick up a key role in the current administration, though many had thought he would resurrect his role as chief selector again. He first held that position in 2003.

"I think it is a challenging role," Sohail told Cricinfo. "But it is one I am really looking forward to. Over the last few years we have trained so many coaches at the NCA - about 250 of them - and we don't have enough players for that number. The challenge is to strike a balance so that coaches are working in the right areas with players."

A mild controversy had broken out over the post last week when Salim Malik claimed he had been offered the post. That was later denied by the board.

No decision was taken at the meeting on the new selection committee; currently Saleem Jaffar heads an interim committee which includes Ijaz Ahmed and Shoaib Mohammad as members. Ijaz, however, is said to be in line for a more senior role, possibly as fielding coach for the national side.

But the board has welcomed back Wasim Bari, the former wicketkeeper and chief selector, into the fold, appointing him director of human resources and administration. Salim Altaf's redesignation to chief operating officer - taking over from Shafqat Naghmi - was also approved at the meeting.