Miandad appointed PCB's director-general

Javed Miandad, the former Pakistan captain and coach, has been appointed director-general of the PCB. The appointment isn't a complete surprise as Miandad's name had been linked to several roles in the board, and he had also met Ijaz Butt, the chairman, recently.

The exact nature and ambit of the role is not yet clear, but Miandad hopes first to lift Pakistan's standing in the ICC rankings. Pakistan, who have not played a Test in 2008, are sixth in the Test rankings and fourth among ODI teams.

"The main purpose of my appointment is to look after the cricketing affairs in the board," Miandad told Associated Press. "It's good that the new chairman of the board [Ijaz Butt] is inducting former Test cricketers in the PCB and I hope it would benefit Pakistan cricket in the future.

Among former players handling positions in the PCB is former fast bowler Saleem Altaf, who only last month had been named as director-general, but is now the board's chief operating officer. Altaf's current position had originally been scrapped when his appointment as director-general was made.

Speaking to Dawn Miandad said, however, that his role would be a purely cricketing one, not overlapping with Altaf's role. "Basically I shall be overseeing the cricketing side. That includes both domestic and international levels as well as the academies. For this I would be going to different parts of the country.

"I won't be involved in the PCB's administrative matters because that is the domain of the COO. And at the same time I won't be intruding in the path of Aamir Sohail [director NCA]. Generally I am here to help develop the standard of our cricket ."

A spate of changes have taken place in Pakistan cricket after Butt, a former Test player, assumed charge. Former Test batsmen Ijaz Ahmed and Shoaib Mohammad were appointed to an interim selection committee, with Saleem Jaffar, the surviving member of the previous three-man panel, named chairman of selectors. Talat Ali, the team's permanent manager since October 2006, stepped down, with Yawar Saeed, a veteran administrator and former manager, taking up duties for the ODI series in Abu Dhabi.

Sohail, the former Pakistan captain and opener, was appointed director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA), replacing Mudassar Nazar, who left for a coaching post with the ICC last month. Wasim Bari, the former wicketkeeper and chief selector, was appointed director of human resources and administration. On Tuesday, Bari had said the PCB would aim to cut down heavily on the administrative expenditure of running the organisation in order to cope with decreased revenues.

Miandad had been tipped to take over as Pakistan's coach following the dismissal of Geoff Lawson last month, but to the PCB's disappointment, he turned down a fourth stint in charge of the team, instead offering to help the board in an advisory position. Butt admitted Miandad was the board's first choice for the job, now taken up by Intikhab Alam.