Waqar Younis signs as Pakistan coach

Waqar Younis' tenure will see him through to December 2011© Getty Images

Waqar Younis has signed on as the new coach of the Pakistan side, in the process becoming the fourth coach of the team in three years. The former fast bowler has been in negotiations with the PCB over the last few days, but confirmed that he will now replace Intikhab Alam on a tenure that sees him through to December 2011.

Waqar, who is based in Sydney currently, will arrive in Lahore next week to begin work, the first assignment of which will be to prepare Pakistan's defense of the World Twenty20 crown in the Caribbean in April-May. "I've signed on and agreed to the contract," Waqar told Cricinfo. "I'll be arriving in Lahore from next week to begin work."

Though the PCB had talked of - and approached - at least one foreign option to replace Intikhab in the aftermath of the tour to Australia, Waqar emerged as a favourite to take over last week. He was sent a contract over the weekend and though there initially were a few sticking points, it is believed the chinks have been ironed out.

"I'm absolutely honoured to take on the role and it is a very exciting challenge," Waqar said. "Hopefully I can deliver on the role. Cricket has given me a lot over the years and I want to give something back to cricket and country now. I've always played my cricket with passion and aggression and I want the team to play like that."

This will be Waqar's first official role as head coach at any competitive level, though he has worked with Pakistan twice previously as a bowling coach. The first was a stint under Bob Woolmer between March 2006 and January 2007, a successful stretch during which a number of bowlers prospered. The second timewas on the recent Australian tour, where he was one of three coaches in a set-up headed by Intikhab and that appointment was for the series only.

But Waqar believes his relative lack of experience in an expansive role will not be a hindrance, hinting that he would relish the broader sweep such a post would afford him. "I'll probably have more control of various situations and have a say in more decisions. I really enjoyed my time as bowling coach, especially the first one under Bob.

"The last one was a little more difficult but I'm confident I can deliver. I learnt a lot from Bob during his time and I'm hoping I can put that to good use."

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo

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Punter expects toned-down McCullum

Ricky Ponting does not expect Brendon McCullum to bat as he did on Sunday when the teams meet in the Chappell-Hadlee series on Wednesday.

McCullum played a cavalier innings, cracking 116 from 56 balls, and New Zealand eventually won a one-over eliminator after Australia matched their hosts' total of 214.

Ponting, who does not play Twenty20 for Australia but remains a key man in the 50-over team, cannot see McCullum taking the same attitude into the longer version of the one-day game.

"I'd be surprised if he plays that way and those sort of shots in a 50-over game. The way he played the other day was pretty much down to having to do that because of the format," Ponting said.

"He'll probably feel a bit more responsibility going into a 50-over game as well. Being one of their most experienced players and probably their batter in the best form at the moment he'll probably put it on himself to try to bat for longer periods.

"But as a result of some of the things he did do the other night there has been some conversation around the group about the way we should bowl if he plays some of those shots again so I think we've all learned from watching his innings."

New Zealand halted Australia's unbeaten summer run with their thrilling victory in Christchurch.

However Ponting's men last tasted 50-over one-day international defeat at the end of October last year against India. Since then they have won three on the trot against the Indians to wrap up that series 4-2 and swept aside Pakistan (5-0) and the West Indies (4-0) on home soil.

"Our boys have been on the road for a while and playing a lot of cricket and our form of late has been terrific," Ponting explained.

"So as I've said to our guys right from the start of the summer, it's about trying to find ways to make yourselves better players day in and day out and in the majority of the summer we were able to do that.

"And our team performances probably got better and better as a result.

"We know we have got to give the Kiwis a lot of attention. They're a very good one-day outfit and they've got some matchwinners in their side as we saw the other night, so we have to make sure we start the series well."

Ponting laughed off the impact of the Twenty20 defeat.

"It didn't affect me because I wasn't in the side!" he said.

"There's a few guys coming into this team that didn't play the other night so what generally happens then is that those guys generally bring in a different sort of attitude and probably a more energetic attitude considering they've had a week off."

Ahead of the one-day international in Napier, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori stressed he would urge McCullum to play in the same uninhibited manner which brought him success in Sunday's match.

"We want Brendon to keep playing the same way," Vettori said. "We'd love that to happen all the time but the nature of cricket means it doesn't so we need other guys to step up."

Vettori predicted a high-scoring match, on a pitch where spin bowlers may struggle to be economical, and picked out Ponting and David Hussey as major threats from the Australia batting line-up.

"They're bringing in some quality players and they're bringing in the team that's dominated their one-day series back home," Vettori said.

"We've got to get up to speed with a lot of them. But they're obviously bringing in one of the best batsmen of all time in Ricky Ponting, so he's a guy we're going to have to really prepare for.

"Him and Hussey have amazing records against us so for us to stop them were going to have to do well against those two in particular."

Vettori relishes the clashes with Australia and knows the New Zealand public feel the same. He also suggests the New Zealand team's performance against their neighbours is how the rest of the world judge them.

He said: "It means a lot to us and it's basically our credibility within world cricket. If we can step up against these guys, play well and win, then people respect us as a team. If we roll over then our summer has been a disappointment."

Test cricket must go day-night to survive - Modi

Lalit Modi: "There has been a big drop in Test cricket viewing and it's because people don't have the leisure time in the day to watch it" © AFP

Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has said it is vital for Test cricket to shift to the day-night format and become more broadcaster friendly in order to ensure its survival amid the burgeoning popularity of Twenty20, which he believes will "become the dominant format - without doubt".

"I am a great supporter of Test cricket. People say I'm not but I also run the marketing department of the BCCI and Test cricket is extremely important to us," Modi told the Guardian. "All I am trying to do is remind people that we live in a modern age and Test cricket has a big problem: it is played in the daytime when most people are working."

Administrators, according to Modi, should embrace every opportunity to attract more viewers to Tests and playing it day-night was an effective way of doing so. "If you take it to day-night, then people can watch it on TV when they get home from work - or they can go to the stadium. There has been a big drop in Test cricket viewing [outside England and the Ashes] and it's because people don't have the leisure time in the day to watch it."

Modi believes that the five-day format will fizzle out unless there is a change in its timings because the broadcaster will not be interested it in. "Whether we like it or not, broadcasting determines whether a game survives. Without broadcasters you don't have money to pay players or keep the sport alive. You don't need to fiddle with the format at this stage. All you need do is change the timing. If we went day-night then we would see a real resurgence in the ratings. Look at Twenty20. It has gone to night cricket and the viewership has exploded."

Modi said the Twenty20 format - three hours for a game - was the ideal vehicle for cricket to compete with football and other sports for new consumers and markets. His aim is to make the IPL the "dominant sporting league in the world" across all sports.

"We are only a two-year-old league but we had close to 3.8 billion eyeballs last year. Every game last year we had 100 million eyeballs," he said. "But because our objective is to become the most watched sporting event in the world we are now targeting 150m every day."

Modi believes that the IPL could develop an edge over English Premier League football because, unlike the most popular league in the world, its unique model was based on team equality and therefore was unpredictable.

"Look, my son is a Manchester United fan and I'm a Chelsea fan - and I was very upset to see my team lose [last Saturday]," he said. "But, normally, we know exactly what is going to happen. My son and I know that nine times out 10 either Man U or Chelsea is going to win it. The Premier League is basically so predictable. I wanted to base my league on an unpredictable model - so we don't have a Man U or a Chelsea in the IPL.

"If you look at our ratings, all 59 games in the IPL last year were within a 5% margin of each other in ratings. That has never happened in any other league in the world. From a broadcaster's or advertiser's point of view this is a dream because, when they buy a match, or advertising, they know they are going to get value for money. The other key point is that 52 out of those 59 matches went down to the wire. No one knew who was going to win until the final stages.

"Our model works but a lot of English football clubs are going under. Look at Portsmouth going bankrupt. With the next auction we might have even more surprising figures and people coming into the IPL."