India's Mamatha Maben, Pak's Rashid to coach Chinese cricket team

Pakistan's Rashid Khan and India's Mamatha Maben are working together as coaches to help raise strong men's and women's cricket teams for China ahead of the 2010 Asian Games.
For the first time in the Asian Games history, the organisers have included cricket as a discipline in both men's and women's categories to compete in the Twenty20 format of the sport in Ganghzou.
"I am the national coach of the China cricket association sent to China by the Pakistan cricket Board to work with their men's and boys teams while the Indian board has sent Maben to work with the women cricketers. And we coordinate a lot as our goal is the same," Rashid told PTI in Karachi .
The former Pakistan and Indian internationals are both based in Chengdu, the capital of Siachun province where the Chinese men and women cricketers are undergoing training under the supervision of the foreign coaches.
Amin-ul-Islam, the former Bangladesh Test player coordinates with Rashid and Maben as the Asian cricket Council development officer for China.
Rashid and Maben travelled to Malaysia earlier this month where the Chinese women's team reached the semi finals of the ACC Twenty20 championship.

Rashid who has been coaching in China since 2006 said cricket development in China was new and the players were also getting used to the coaching systems.
"China is new to cricket and it is not easy. It is like learning Chinese by reading a dictionary and watching Chinese movies. To those who want quick results, I say it is not possible. To those who want good results, I say it is possible but only if good things are done in every step of the way," the former Test player said.

He said the Chinese women had benefitted a lot from the expertise of Maben, a former international player who was also a qualified coach who joined them since March this year.
"Since the ACC formally introduced cricket in China in 2005 a lot of progress has been made and number of coaches, umpires and most importantly players in schools and colleges have increased a lot since than," he added.
The primary target for both Rashid and Maben is to build a men's and women's team for next year's Asian Games since China as hosts is guaranteed entry to the cricket event.
Rashid said while working in China there had been no problems with the Indian women's coach as both were professionals.
"You tend to learn a lot from exchange of views," he said.
Former captain Javed Miandad is also concentrating on China as Pakistan's ambassador of cricket to the country and as an advisor to the China cricket association.