Christchurch:
Pakistan team management today denied reports that fielding coach Grant Luden had threatened to resign after a tiff with a few senior players and said that he will continue to serve in his current role.
Pakistan Cricket Board media manager Agha Akbar refuted reports that there was a tiff between Luden and three players -- Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad—during a training session yesterday after which the fielding coach sent a message to the PCB Chairman threatening to step down.
“Reports stating that there has been a tiff between three players, Afridi, Shehzad and Akmal and fielding coach Luden and that the latter has resigned because of it, are absolutely false and nothing of the sort has happened,” Akbar said in a statement.
The Board, however, admitted that Luden had sent his resignation before the ongoing World Cup but took it back after his issue was resolved.
“A few days prior to the start of the World Cup, Luden had expressed his desire that for personal reasons, he would want to be relieved of his duties sometime in May 2015,” Akbar said in the statement.
“Subsequently, as his issues were resolved, he took his resignation back. The PCB and the team management as well as the boys hold the job he is doing in high esteem, and are keen that he continues to serve in his present role,” the statement said.
The story about the row between Luden and the three players was also carried by a foreign wire service which quoted a source in the Pakistan camp as saying that Luden had a serious argument with some senior players and out of frustration he resigned.
Luden, a member of Pakistan coach Waqar Younis’ backroom staff, was hired as fielding coach in May last year on a two-year contract.
Akbar said the entire team trained together in Christchurch yesterday under the supervision of head coach Waqar and some players were put through their paces by other coaches with Luden putting in an extra hour on both days with a select group of players.
