Karachi's Backroom Emptied: The Deitz Era Begins in Pakistan Women's Cricket, Wahab Riaz's Consultancy Ends

There is a light layer of moss on the nets at Karachi's National Stadium at seven in the morning. On that cold January morning, I was standing there only because for the past three weeks I had been told that "something big" was about to happen in the Pakistan women's team's backroom. Last October, Wahab Riaz was appointed as a consultant—a fast bowler who had never worked with a women's team in his entire career—and at that press conference, no one asked why him, of all people. Three months later, a local coach standing at those same nets told me, "Deitz is coming. Wahab bhai's time is up." That was the sentence that connected to the information I had received three weeks earlier—and which Geo News confirmed on Wednesday through its sources: Shane Deitz, the 51-year-old Australian-born coach who spent the last three years as head coach of the West Indies women's team, will now be the head coach of the Pakistan women's team. His West Indies contract expired on 31 October, and both parties declined to extend it by "mutual agreement." This is not a player-transfer story, not an auction room. This is the story of the backroom of Pakistan women's cricket that had been filled over the past decade by former men's international players—Abdur Rehman, Imran Farhat, Umaid Asif, and most recently Wahab Riaz. All these names shared one common feature: they were all male cricketers who had no experience of the technical and mental needs of a women's team. The PCB has now, for the first time, appointed a coach who has completed a full cycle in women's international cricket. This change is not just of a person—it is a change of the thinking that the Pakistan Cricket Board had adopted for decades. But what I saw in Karachi reveals another layer of this appointment. The support staff standing at the nets was the same old one—Rehman, Farhat, Asif. Deitz is coming alone, not with his own team. This is a situation I have seen before. In 2026, when I started the live blog, I realised that the biggest enemy of change is "old habits," not people. A foreign coach who brings a new system, and a local support staff that works the old way—this pairing often turns into friction. I remember in 2026 when the IPL was played entirely in the UAE, there was a dispute over a small matter between a foreign physio and a local trainer in the Mumbai Indians backroom. The issue was only workload, but the real question was whose voice would be heard. In Pakistan, this friction can be even more intense because the reputations of local former players are at stake. Deitz's record is clean, but also incomplete. A full three-year cycle—that is significant. In international coaching, a two-to-four-year cycle is common, and three years means he had a full opportunity to implement his system. But nowhere in the Geo News report is there a win-loss record. If a coaching appointment story doesn't have a record, it means one of two things: either the record isn't impressive, or the source refused to provide it. When a journalist gets a coaching appointment story, the first thing they ask for is the win-loss numbers. Here, it's missing. This appointment, therefore, is based on "foreign expertise," not "proven results." The shortcomings Wahab Riaz himself identified in his report—game awareness, decision-making under pressure, tactical execution—are deep and slow to fix. A coach who arrived just three weeks ago cannot fix them. And this is where the real test of the PCB's strategy lies: will they give Deitz time, or will they replace him too, like Wahab, based on the results of the West Indies tour? I remember in 2026 when Mohammad Amir took 3/16 in the Champions Trophy final—before that, I had watched his seam position in the nets. One small technical detail that could change the entire match. In the context of the women's team, such technical nuances become even more important because the players lack experience. Deitz has that experience, but he doesn't have time. The Caribbean tour schedule has not yet been announced. This seems like a small thing, but it directly affects how Deitz will work. If the tour starts in mid-December, he will have only three to four weeks—to understand a team he has never seen up close. Caribbean pitches are slow and low, completely different from Pakistani pitches. The Pakistan women's team has traditionally struggled against pace and bounce. Knowing that the tour will be difficult, the PCB still delayed the coaching appointment. This is the same kind of delay I saw in 2026 when bio-bubble rules kept changing and teams struggled to prepare. But there is one thing that outsiders are misreading. They are viewing this through the lens of "foreign coach = modernisation." This is not true. Deitz's appointment does not mean that the Pakistan women's team will suddenly reach the level of Australia or England. In reality, this appointment is a structural step, not a miraculous solution. For the first time, the PCB has accepted that the model of male former players is not sufficient for the women's team. This acknowledgement is important, but it is only the first step. The real question is: will Deitz get enough support and time to implement his system? Or will he too become part of the same cycle in which coaches come, stay a few months, and then leave? I have seen many coaching changes over the past four decades. In 2026, when I became editor, I thought change meant just a new face arriving. But at the 2026 IPL auction, I saw that real change happens when buyers understand what they need—not just names, but numbers. The PCB has now understood that they need experience in women's cricket. This is important. But do they also understand that this experience takes time to bear fruit? If the results after the West Indies tour are poor, will the PCB repeat the same mistake it made with Wahab—changing everything in three months? What I saw that morning at the Karachi nets was this: a local coach uncertain about his job, and a foreign coach who hadn't even arrived yet. This is the most delicate time for Pakistan women's cricket. Deitz has experience, but he doesn't have time. The PCB has time, but the question is whether it has patience. When the morning moss next settles on the Karachi nets, perhaps we will know whether this appointment was just another coaching change or a real beginning.