Dav Whatmore will reach Lahore on Saturday to hold his final round of talks with Pakistan Cricket Board officials who appear set to appoint the Australian as the national team’s coach. Reports quoting a source in the PCB said that Whatmore was almost finalised as the next head coach. “Whatmore is due on the night of January 14 and there is no other foreigner coming with him,” an official source in the board said. “He will be in Lahore to finalise the terms and conditions of his agreement with the board which could initially be for a two-year period,” the source said. The source made it clear that despite the official stance taken by senior board officials on the appointment of Whatmore, he was the preferred choice. “You can say that 95 per cent Whatmore has been finalised as the next head coach of the team,” the source said. The source said that the board had however decided that it would not entertain any request from Whatmore to send him to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to observe the Pakistani players in their series against England.
“Even if he makes such a request we will not entertain it because we don’t want the present team management and players to be distracted in any way and we want them to solely focus on the job ahead,” the source said. The source also said the board had decided that it would decide on the support staff for the team after holding discussions with Whatmore. At present former Test player, Mohsin Khan is working as interim head coach of the team. The source said that despite the interest shown by Mohsin in continuing in the same position after the England series, the board had decided to appoint a new coach.