Pakistan's Latif critical of foreign coaches in Asia

KARACHI, Oct 31 (Reuters) Ex-Pakistan captain Rashid Latif launched a scathing attack today on foreign coaches working with Asian teams after his former side, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh all flopped in the Champions Trophy.

''The Champions Trophy results lead one to question the wisdom of paying so much money to these foreign coaches who have produced no dramatic results, Latif told Reuters today.

''The boards must ask themselves, are these people delivering results expected from them?'' Former England player Bob Woolmer has coached Pakistan since 2004 while India hired ex-Australia captain Greg Chappell last year.

Dav Whatmore is in charge of Bangladesh while fellow Australian Tom Moody is coach of Sri Lanka.

Latif said all the foreign coaches apart from Whatmore, who lifted the fortunes of Sri Lanka when he was in charge of that nation, had failed to live up to expectations.

''Even Whatmore has struggled with Bangladesh, confirming the fact a coach is only as good as his team,'' said the former wicketkeeper.

''You look at the results of all these teams. There is no dramatic improvement from when they had local coaches.

''Locals are being deprived of an opportunity to work with their national teams.'' Latif feared Asian teams would struggle in next year's World Cup in the Caribbean.

''Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan players are naturally talented,'' he said.

''They play cricket by instinct and are more accustomed to respecting their captain than a coach. Their psyche cannot change.'' REUTERS PDS RK2128