Pak vs Aus: PCB appoints former Aussie cricketer Shaun Tait as bowling coach

• PCB hires former Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait as bowling coach for one year.
• Saqlain Mushtaq will continue as head coach for another 12 months.
• Mohammad Yousuf will be the batting coach for the Australia series.

Ahead of the historic Aussies tour, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday appointed former Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait as the bowling coach for one year.

According to a PCB statement, Saqlain Mushtaq will continue as head coach for another 12 months, while Mohammad Yousuf will be the batting coach for the Australia series.

Earlier today, the board announced the squad for the Test series against Australia, including Haris Rauf and Shan Masood in place of Bilal Asif and Abid Ali.

Other player support personnel include Mansoor Rana (manager), Shahid Aslam (assistant to head coach), Cliffe Deacon (physiotherapist), Drikus Saaiman (trainer/strength and conditioning coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Emmad Ahmed Hameed (media and digital manager), Col (retd) Usman Anwari (security manager), Talha Ejaz (analyst) and Malang Ali (masseur).

The board had announced to hire foreign coaches for the national team and an advertisement was also published in newspapers seeking applications from interested candidates but the process could not be completed in time.

The men's cricket team is without permanent coaching staff since September 2021 when Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis stepped down due to differences over the team selection for the T20 World Cup 2021.

Who is Shaun Tait?

Shaun Tait had announced his retirement from all forms of the game in 2017 due to persistent elbow injuries.

Tait had retired from first-class cricket in 2009 and one-day internationals in 2011.

The former fast bowler was instrumental in Australia's 2007 World Cup triumph in West Indies, where he was the joint-second highest wicket-taker with 23 dismissals in the tournament.

He represented Australia in three tests, 35 ODIs and 21 T20s and made his last international appearance against India in the shortest format at Sydney last year.

Pakistan's Test squad

• Babar Azam (captain) 
• Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain) 
• Abdullah Shafique 
• Azhar Ali 
• Faheem Ashraf 
• Fawad Alam 
• Haris Rauf 
• Hasan Ali 
• Imam-ul-Haq 
• Mohammad Nawaz 
• Nauman Ali 
• Sajid Khan
• Saud Shakeel
• Shaheen Shah Afridi 
• Shan Masood 
• Zahid Mahmood

Reserve players

• Kamran Ghulam 
• Mohammad Abbas 
• Naseem Shah 
• Sarfaraz Ahmed 
• Yasir Shah

Australia to tour Pakistan for the first time in 24 years

The PCB had earlier announced the details of Australia's first tour of Pakistan since November, 1998. The tour will take place in March and April 2022 and will include three Tests, three One-Day Internationals, and one Twenty20 International.

Karachi (3-7 March), Rawalpindi (12-16 March), and Lahore (21-25 March) will host the Tests, while Lahore will host the four white-ball matches from 29 March to 5 April.

The Tests will be part of the ICC World Test Championship, while the ODIs will be part of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League, a 13-team competition from which the top seven teams and hosts India will qualify directly for the 2023 event.