Pakistan's cricket authorities have not appointed former captain Salim Malik as head coach of the national cricket academy, despite an announcement by the player, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Malik, who had a life ban for alleged involvement in match-fixing overturned last month, said on Tuesday he had accepted an offer from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to become head coach at the academy in Lahore. However, the PCB's director of cricket operations Zakir Khan denied on Wednesday that a formal offer had been made to Malik.
"It is all a misunderstanding. No offer was ever made to Malik to be head coach at the academy," Khan said. "Some general and informal discussions were held on the issue with Malik and nothing more." Malik told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with board chairman Ejaz Butt, that he had agreed to take the job.
His public announcement led to the International Cricket Council (ICC) saying it was not happy with the appointment and would seek an explanation from the PCB. "I spoke to the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and explained the situation to him," Khan said.
Malik, who played 103 tests, was banned by the PCB in 2001 on the recommendation of a judicial inquiry which carried out an 18-month investigation into allegations of match-fixing made against Pakistani players. The inquiry commission recommended a life ban for Malik and fines for other senior players including Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis.
Malik challenged his punishment in the courts and it was lifted last month, when a civil court judge said imposing the ban had been beyond the PCB's powers. The ICC has yet to ratify the court's ruling and officially allow Malik's return to cricket. Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif resigned in protest as wicketkeeping coach from the PCB academy over the news that Malik was apparently being offered the position as head coach.
"How can I accept this decision and work with him at the academy when I testified against him that he was involved in match fixing?" Latif told Reuters. Khan said that Latif had acted in haste. "He should have waited for what we had to say because we never made any announcement that Malik would be head coach at the academy," he said.