Hafeez and the other new coaching staff members reportedly joined the team only after being promised long-term contracts, according to a PTI report.
The Pakistan Cricket Board, which appointed Muhammad Hafeez as director of cricket following the 50-overs World Cup last year, has been instructed by the sports ministry not to extend a long-term contract to him just yet. The ministry of interprovincial cooperation, which is in charge of the sports industry, received a copy of the contract that the PCB had submitted for approval. According to a trustworthy source, “the board was instructed to just continue with the short-term arrangement with Hafeez which ends after the T20 series in New Zealand,” even if the deal was for a long time.
Insiders claim that Hafeez and the other recent additions to the coaching staff joined the team only after receiving guarantees of long-term contracts.
The team’s record under Hafeez and the other coaches has also been quite poor, as seen by their losses in all Test matches played in Australia and the current Twenty20 International series in New Zealand, the insider added. “Now it appears (that) this is not going to happen.”
For the Australian tour, Hafeez was named director of the Pakistan team, alongside new coaches Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, and foreigners Simon Helmot and Adam Hollioake.
Helmot was replaced as the high performance coach for the T20Is in New Zealand by Yasir Arafat, another former Pakistani player.
Following the World Cup, the PCB moved foreign coaches Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn, and Andrew Puttick to the National Cricket Academy, making room for the new coaches.
All three of them took vacations instead of accepting the new assignment. Following an undisclosed financial arrangement with the PCB, they have now resigned.
The cricket management committee of the board was also prevented by the sports ministry from organizing a T10 league and a meeting to elect a new board of governors.
