KARACHI, April 9 Shireen Javed, chairperson of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Women`s Wing, has said that she never sacked the national women`s team coach Umer Rashid as was reported in the media soon after the team`s arrival from the ICC Women`s World Cup in Australia.

Taking a complete 180 degrees turn on her previous statements, Mrs Javed while talking to Dawn on Thursday said “Umer Rashid is still the coach of the national women`s team. I never said that he was sacked. I was misunderstood and misquoted when I mentioned that we were looking into getting two coaches — one for fielding and one for batting — for the team. Decision regarding a new coach or coaches will be made when the Twenty20 Women`s World Cup camp is held later this month.”

When asked why she waited for 14 days before issuing this clarification on the coach`s dismissal which totally contradicted her earlier statement in a press conference in Lahore on March 26, the chairperson said “We had reached Lahore after a tiresome 27-hour journey. Still, I did call up a couple of people to inform them that I had been misquoted. I had said even at the press conference that the media asks questions and then comes up with the answers itself, which is not a very nice thing to do.”

When reminded about her statements expressing disappointment over the team`s performance in the Women`s World Cup soon after their return from Australia, she said “I only said that they could have done better. When they reached the Super Sixes, I expected more of them, that`s all. But I am definitely going to reward the girls who performed exceptionally well in Australia. Let the Twenty20 camp begin. I will reward bowlers Qanita Jalil, Almas Akram and even vice captain Sana Mir who also bowled very well. Opener Nain Abidi too deserves to be honoured.”

Commenting on PCB officials` no-show at the Karachi Airport to welcome the team, Mrs Javed said “Yes, even I felt that, and have complained about it too. But just because I happen to be related to chairman Ijaz Butt, he is careful to keep me at an arm`s distance.”

Downplaying the rumours about change of captaincy, the seasoned official said “We cleared that at the press conference too. We never said that we were going to change the captain, only that we`ll see what`s decided during the Twenty20 camp as the format of Twenty20 is very different from 50-over matches.”

About the grievances of the `A` team probables, who were short listed even before joining camp, she explained “The team was picked by Aamir Sohail, Attaur Rehman, Naveed Anjum and `A` team coach Mansoor Rana. I don`t do the selection. My only criteria is merit and discipline. In fact, so afraid am I of overlooking the technical aspects while selecting a player, that I sit at a distance from the selectors just so I don`t influence them through my comments.”

When asked about reports regarding Women`s Wing Secretary Ayesha Ashhar and herself short listing the probables while still in Australia, Mrs Javed said “It is incorrect that we short listed the players while in Australia. I know that the girls are disheartened but we cannot have a team of bowlers only. The girls who are complaining are all bowlers. The team should comprise a certain number of bowlers, batswomen and all-rounders.”

While, providing more details about the `A` team squad, Mrs Javed said that the team would be accompanied by three officials — Mansoor Rana (coach), Ayesha Ashhar (manager) and Huma Tariq (physiotherapist).

When asked how come Ayesha got to accompany every touring team as manager, the chairperson said “She has had to step in as manager of the `A` team too as we don`t have many people trained enough for the job.”

About the other former hockey players like analyst and advisor Azra Perveen, Raeesa Ilyas (the team`s manager during their tour of Bangladesh) and Razia Rizvi (the `A` team camp commander at Muridke), crowding the Women`s Wing, she said that they were former hockey as well as cricket players. “They are all very interested in sports, which is a rare thing for women anyway, and are quite knowledgeable about cricket too. Azra, by the way, has also played cricket for PWCA since 1978.”

About there being no domestic cricket for women this year, she said “I am planning a new domestic structure with Javed Miandad now. Right now we are just carrying out what had been planned in the previous year`s budget. You`ll see plenty of positive changes taking place after the beginning of our new financial year in June.”