Selection committee to meet today

LAHORE: Pakistani selectors will go back to the drawing board on Tuesday (today) in a bid to pick a balanced pool of players ahead of next years World Cup. The newly formed national selection committee headed by the former captain Moin Khan will meet to chalk out preparations for Pakistans forthcoming international assignments which will culminate with the World Cup in 2015. Our first task is to identify and shortlist around 30 to 35 players who will form the nucleus for our upcoming assignments including the 2015 World Cup Moin said. The former wicketkeeper-batsman said that initially the shortlisted players will have to attend a month-long training/conditioning camp in Lahore from May 6. Senior players like Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan however will miss the camp as they have been given permission by the cricket board to play cricket in England. Moin said that with the tour to Sri Lanka due in July-Augus the selectors have ample time and opportunity to identify players for all three formats of the game. Obviously the Tests this year against Sri Lanka Australia and New Zealand are important for us but we also have to start identifying players who can serve us best in the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand he added. Meanwhile the board will be mulling over who will be the next head coach and support staff of the national team. The Board has set a deadline of May 5 for interested candidates to apply for positions of head coach batting coach fielding coach spin consultant and other positions. Pakistan’s former captain and coach Waqar Younis is seen as a front runner to once again get the head coachs job but a board official said that the PCB would wait and see who all apply for the different positions. The official confirmed that Pakistans former off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq had also applied for the position of head coach and also spin consultant.