The Pakistan Cricket Board after much reluctance has agreed to coach Mickey Arthur's request by appointing former legspinner Mustaq Ahmed as assistant coach for the England tour.

The board had initially rejected Arthur's recommendation that Mushtaq should be attached as assistant coach with the team for the tour to England and it had told the new coach he will be assisted by former Test allrounder Azhar Mahmood.

However, with Azar having prior commitments with county side Surrey was not available for the first part of the tour.

With time running out the board finally decided to allow Mushtaq to go with the team to England.

Initially, the board had explained to Arthur they couldn't release Mushtaq since he was now working as head coach at the NCA in Lahore.

Ironically, the board had released Mushtaq quietly as assistant coach when Waqar Younis was head coach and Pakistan had gone to play in the Asia Cup and World T20.

It is being understood that the board has also accepted Arthur's recommendation to hire former Australian wicketkeeper Steve Rixon as fielding coach of the team with Zimbabwe's Grant Ludon now working as trainer.

Another important decision which the board has taken is to appoint a public relations firm in the United Kingdom for the duration of the Pakistan team's tour.

The board had earlier tried to appoint a foreign media professional to work as media manager of the Pakistan team in England but failed to convince two candidates to accept the assignment.

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