Rixon to quit as Pakistan fielding coach

LAHORE: Pakistan’s current fielding coach Steve Rixon has signed a lucrative agreement with one of the key teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has decided to quit his current job with the Pakis­tan team after the upcoming two T20 matches against Scotland which are to be played on June 12 and 13.
Sources told Dawn that Rixon had not been been enjoying his job due to extensive travelling of the Pakistan team and he had been keen to sign an IPL team where he could get a handsome salary besides avoiding issues relating to travelling which will enable him to spend more time with his family.
Though not yet confirmed, the sources said Rixon may have signed an agreement with Chennai Super Kings which has won the IPL title thrice – in 2010, 2011 and 2018.
It may be mentioned here that Rixon has not had a tenure longer than two and half years in any of his past assignments and he has done the same now with the Pakistan team since he is leaving his fielding coach assignment after working for just about two years.
He was brought in by current Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur under whose coaching Pakistan won the ICC Champions Trophy and also played a drawn Test series against England 1-1 recently.
According to sources, the PCB also made Rixon an offer to enhance his salary by ten per cent but he has refused to extend his tenure with the national team. They added that the main reason behind Rixon’s decision was long travelling, otherwise the fielding coach was quite comfortable with the Pakistan team.
It must, however, be said that Rixon has done good work with the Pakistan team as marked improvement have be shown in fielding department by the national team players. That is an achievement since Pakistan teams in the past have struggled with the fielding standards, especially when compared to the high standards of foreign teams like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and others.