A surprise, but no softie

That Pakistan has found a coach, no matter the identity, is some relief. As a board official privately conceded, none of the 13 applicants shortlisted were particularly suitable or high-profile and so some had to be sought out. Pakistan is as attractive a coaching destination today as Baghdad is a tourist one. With relief, however, there is also surprise in Geoff Lawson's appointment. Perhaps promise too.

Lawson doesn't fit the profile of that most exportable commodity, the modern-day Australian coach. He has not slogged his way through centres of excellence or academies. He has not just finished an international stint as many Australian coaches have. And though he is a level 3 qualified coach, he is currently respected more for his media work than his coaching.

His only previous bona fide coaching stint was with New South Wales from 1995-1997, when his sides finished fifth and third. Should he have done better with the Waugh twins, Mark Taylor, Michael Bevan, Michael Slater and Glenn McGrath at his disposal, even accounting for regular national duty absences? Since then, he has been associated with them as a consultant of sorts. Perhaps, the only ones as surprised as the Pakistanis are Australians.

The common perception is that Pakistan's players were behind Lawson because he appears, compared to the taskmaster-like Dav Whatmore, a softer option, more malleable. The question was even asked, in cruder tones, at the press conference.

Yet the appearance might deceive, not only because Australian fast bowlers from the rough 1980s (or any decade really) are not compliant and agreeable souls. As captain of New South Wales, towards the end of his career, he brooked little nonsense. 'Get on or get out' was his way. It is as Australian as vegemite now, but it became so largely when Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, both Lawson disciples, put it in practice as Test captains.

Waugh is, as ever, instructive: Lawson was a "tough" roomie, who once told Greg Matthews to 'find another room' when Matthews knocked on the door sometime after the midnight curfew. Of Lawson's constant, lonely battles with the Australian board - itself revealing - during the 80s, Waugh says, "Henry [Lawson's nickname] wasn't everyone's cup of tea and didn't have that welcoming demeanour that makes people feel totally at ease..."

Opponents experienced and respected the abrasion. Desmond Haynes says Lawson was "always chatting, saying abusive things," and was once at the receiving end of a two-fingered gesture. His captain Clive Lloyd thought Lawson to be the fastest white bowler in the world and more; this in an age when West Indians dished out all manner of things but rarely respect and certainly never to shrinking violets. A pushover he is unlikely to be.

What will he be is too early to say. As a fast bowling national coach he will be a rarity for sure. He is proud of the work he has done with Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken and rightly so, for they are fine bowlers. In Pakistan he should come upon potentially the best pace attack in world cricket, though even more than nuts and bolts, it is their whole beings he must attend to. Shoaib, Asif, Gul and another from beyond is a quartet Pakistanis haven't even dreamt about, so unlikely have injuries rendered the prospect. Lawson's input will be eagerly watched.

Where that leaves Pakistan's batting - which needs more care - nobody knows, though when former batsmen are appointed coaches, no one seems unduly concerned about who will handle the bowling. Bob Woolmer, a playing batsman, did wonders coaching bowlers so there is no reason yet to suspect Lawson is incapable of similar. In any case, a specialist batting coach has not been ruled out. And the fielding - which needs most care - will be monitored by a specialist.

Communication will not be "straightforward", as Lawson admits with refreshing straightforwardness. But it can be overcome and, if Woolmer's problems with the team post-Oval are recalled often, his success in dealing with them before that should not be forgotten. Language didn't prevent trust with Inzamam and neither did it stop him from rekindling, briefly, Shoaib.

Local help will be on hand (Mudassar Nazar knows Lawson well) and the news that Shoaib Malik is improving his English will warm Pakistani hearts unused to a captain comfortable with the language since Wasim Akram. And at least, as Lawson points out, he is not in the English Premier League, where linguistics, not coaching, is the first requirement.

Nobody should be surprised that ex-players have criticised the move though a view from Imran Khan - who played with Lawson at New South Wales and thinks highly of him - might be handy.

Ultimately, it was left to the sharpest tack in the team to articulate the only credible view. When called for a reaction to the appointment, the player asked, "What can I say? Let him arrive, work with the team so I can form an opinion. No one knows anything about him as coach, including me, so what reaction?" 160 million people might agree.