Central Punjab have appointed former England international Paul Franks as their head coach for the upcoming domestic season which includes the Quaid-e-Azam trophy and the Pakistan Cup.
He replaces Abdul Razzaq in the role who will remain with the team.
Franks is currently serving as the assistant coach to Peter Moores at Nottinghamshire County but jumped at the chance of a head-coaching role on offer. Bilal Shafayat, one of the limited players to have played domestic first-class cricket in Pakistan, will serve as his deputy during his tenure in Pakistan.
Bilal is currently involved in Nottinghamshire’s age-group levels and second XI.
“This was too good to turn down,” Franks told the Guardian. “It came about through a little bit of word of mouth and possibly Trent Rockets winning the Hundred when I was assistant to Andy Flower. He and Peter [Moores] are two incredible coaches who have trusted me to do my job as I see it and that’s probably helped.
“I’ve worked in the T10 league in Abu Dhabi and the temptation would be to find more gigs in franchise cricket. But I wanted to get out of my comfort zone a little, really experience a different culture and hopefully grow as a coach.
“Four-day and 50-over cricket may not be as fashionable right now but I want to work across all formats. And I’ve got ambitions to go as far as I can in my career. I want to help this team be the best they can be but also learn from the players too.”
With his appointment as head of Central Punjab, Paul Franks becomes the first Englishman to take charge of a domestic team in Pakistan where several international coaches are working in pathway programmes.
South Africa’s Gordon Parsons, New Zealand’s Nicholas Webb, England’s Julian Fountain, Julian Wood, and Toby Radford are the other overseas coaches working in lower levels in domestic cricket.
Pakistan’s domestic season started last month on August 30 with the National T20 Cup.
The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will run from September 27 to November 30 while the season will end with the 50-over Pakistan Cup, which will be staged in Karachi from December 10 to January 3.
