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Is Woolmer behind Shoaib-PCB fracas?
A PCB source said the pacer was being treated shoddily ever since Woolmer insisted that the team would manage the Indian tour without him.
Has Pakistan's foreign coach Bob Woolmer provoked the ongoing tussle between controversial quickie Shoaib Akthar and the Pakistan Cricket Board?
The cat and mouse game the PCB is playing with Shoaib is attributed to the increasing influence of Woolmer within the board.
Sources quoted by The News on Tuesday said Shoaib was being treated shoddily ever since Woolmer insisted that the team would manage the Indian tour without him.
"When Woolmer met the (PCB) chairman (Shaharyar Khan) soon after his return from Australia, he conveyed his reluctance to have Shoaib in the India-bound squad for a number of reasons. The primary one was the fast bowler's refusal to adhere to his advice as far as his bowling was concerned," a well-informed source asserted.
"It is because of the message given by Woolmer that the board is now playing a mental pressure game with Shoaib, who remains uncertain whether he would be selected for the Indian tour," the PCB source added.
"The chairman has blind faith in whatever advice or suggestion that Woolmer gives and it's now clear that he (Woolmer) is still unhappy with the fast bowler for refusing to reduce his run-up, an issue that raged on since last October during the home series against Sri Lanka," the source maintained.
According to the source, the amount of clout Woolmer enjoyed could be judged from the fact that he had even named his 16-member squad for India in his meeting with Shaharyar Khan in Karachi.
"Woolmer's influence has increased to such levels that all three foreign trainers/physios were hired by the board on his recommendations and they are all from South Africa, where the former Test player now resides," the source added.
The PCB had earlier hired Murray Stevenson, and Darryn Lifsun for the senior team and Grant Compton for the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. Critics had expressed surprise that when the cricketing world was looking to hire experts from Australia, Pakistan was increasing its South African connections.
There has been a lot of whispering going on in PCB corridors or power in Lahore and generally in cricket circles over the way Woolmer has had a say in all matters.
