Malik the 'obvious' choice for captain: Lawson

Geoff Lawson, Pakistan's former coach, believes Salman Butt's appointment as captain of the Test side is premature and could do him more harm than good, and that Shoaib Malik should have been the obvious choice to replace Shahid Afridi, who retired from Tests after Pakistan's 150-run loss in the first Test at Lord's. Butt's a good choice as vice-captain but he's years away from being a captain, Lawson said. I would've let him concentrate on his batting because he's probably the best batsman they have right now. He has captaincy potential but throwing him in at this stage will crucify him. Lawson took up the role of Pakistan's coach after Bob Woolmer's death at the 2007 World Cup and took the side to the finals of the inaugural World Twenty20 tournament, but was dismissed by the PCB a year and a half into his two-year contract after a string of poor performances. Shoaib Malik was captain during Lawson's tenure but it was a troubled stint and he was replaced by Younis Khan after Pakistan conceded an ODI series to Sri Lanka with a massive 234-run thrashing in Lahore in January 2009.