Herschelle Gibbs among five other foreign coaches announced to head PCB Pathway Cricket Programme

Pakistan Cricket Board. (Photo Source: Twitter/TherealPCBmedia)

The Cricket Coaching project under the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) Pathway Cricket Programme is right around the corner. In the second year of the project, the PCB has announced the inclusion of six foreign coaches who will assist in the development of budding talent in Pakistan.

Notably, the PCB and Engro Corporation signed a three-year deal in 2022, and as a part of the agreement, Engro will be sponsoring the facilitation of foreign coaches.

The six foreign coaches include Australia’s Geoff Lawson and New Zealand’s Scott Mclaren, who will be the strength and conditioning coach. Furthermore, South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs, the UK’s Gordon Parsons and Julien Fountain, and Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu are also a part of the foreign coach set-up as reported by Cricket Pakistan. Out of the six coaches, Taibu, Gibbs, and Lawson are the ones who have played international cricket.

It is also worth noting that five coaches will be working under the programme, with only Gibbs working exclusively with the U13 and U16 players. Furthermore, Gibbs will leave the country on July 16 and will be replaced by Geoff Lawson, who will be working with the U16 players before joining up with the U19 players.

Gordon Parsons is one coach who will be returning to the programme, as he featured in 2022 as well. He will be working as the bowling coach, whereas Fountain will be the fielding coach in the programme.

The programme will witness the coaching of three categories of players – U13, U16, and U19. Firstly, the 25 U13 players that have been selected for the programme will undergo their training at the NCA from July 13 to July 25.

Moving on, 37 U16 players have been shortlisted to undergo training. This lot of players will be taking part in the programme at the Muridke Country Club (MCC) from July 10 to 25.

Lastly, the U19 players in the programme will be working in two groups. The 58 players shortlisted will be working under the elite coaches at both the NCA and the MCC. The oldest lot of players will be undergoing training from July 26 to August 10.