According to sources, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has approached former New Zealand cricketer Luke Ronchi for the post of head coach.
New Zealand’s current batting coach Ronchi has sought some time before arriving at a decision.
Luke Ronchi rejected the PCB’s offer last year after which Grant Bradburn was appointed.
Luke Ronchi achieved the rare feat of representing both New Zealand, the country of his birth, and Australia.
The 42-year-old has played four Tests, 85 ODIs, and 33 T20Is since making his limited-overs debut for Australia in 2008.
In league cricket, he has played for Guyana Amazon Warriors, Islamabad United, Mumbai Indians, and Perth Scorchers.
This development comes after Shane Watson, Mike Hesson, and Darren Sammy refused to coach the Pakistan team.
Watson wants to honor his current coaching and commentary commitments rather than abandoning them at short notice.
Watson’s commitments include commentary for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and coaching the Quetta Gladiators as head coach of Major League Cricket team San Francisco Unicorns. The fact that he has a young family also played a role in his decision.
Meanwhile, Sammy refused to approach the PCB citing his existing contract with the West Indies board as the head coach of the white-ball teams.
PCB is interested in appointing a strong coaching staff for the cricket team under the leadership of Mohsin Naqvi.
The PCB is also mulling the possibility of appointing local coaches along with foreign consultants to fill the vacancy in time for the T20I series against New Zealand at home.
The five-match T20 series between Pakistan and New Zealand will begin on April 18.
It may be noted that Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn, and Andrew Pottock, who were transferred to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore after their portfolios were reshuffled in November 2023, left their respective posts in January this year.
In April 2023, Arthur was named the director of the Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team while Bradburn was named the head coach of the Pakistan Men’s National Team earlier last year. Former South African cricketer Potak has worked as a batting coach since April 2023.
According to PCB, this decision was taken amicably between all parties.
