Istafa Ali
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) approached former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi for the post of national side head coach.
Ronchi, who is currently an assistant coach in New Zealand, was seeking time to be able to discuss and consider taking up the role of coaching the Men in Green.
It is pertinent to know that Ronchi, who has represented his country of Australia and New Zealand, had earlier rejected the offer of the PCB to become the Men in Green’s coach, following which Bradburn was appointed at the said post.
The development came after PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi last week had said that the board was making a proper panel for the coaches which was in the final stages ahead of the five-match T20I series against the Black Caps which is set to commence on April 18.
Among others, the said post was left vacant after Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn, and Andrew Puttick were shifted to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore following a change in their portfolios in November 2023, from where they had left their respective positions this year in January.
Arthur was handed the role of director of Pakistan men’s cricket in April 2023, while Bradburn was appointed head coach of the Pakistan national men’s side earlier that year. Meanwhile, former South African cricketer Puttick worked as batting coach since April 2023.
The former New Zealand player, in that respect, went on to play 4 Tests, 85 ODIs, and 33 T20Is after he made his limited-overs debut for Australia in 2008.
In league cricket, Ronchi has played for Guyana Amazon Warriors, Islamabad United, Mumbai Indian and Perth Scorchers.
The development comes after Shane Watson, Mike Hesson and Darren Sammy refused to coach the Pakistan team.
Watson had turned down the offer, stating that he had high-value coaching and commentary commitments at the time, which he could not walk away from at such short notice. But Sammy, it is further understood, turned down the approaches from the PCB on the grounds that he had an ongoing contract with the West Indies Board, where he was the head coach of its white-ball sides.
