Pakistan hire rugby fitness coach

Pakistan have hired a former Australian rugby trainer to help the national cricket team raise its fitness level.

David Dwyer will join the team's support staff in time for next month's Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, Zakir Khan of Pakistan's cricket board said yesterday.

Dwyer's appointment comes two days before former Australian pacer Geoff Lawson is due to take charge as national team coach.

Lawson was hired after the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup in the West Indies in March. Pakistan terminated the contracts of Woolmer's foreign support staff immediately after the World Cup.

The squad will take part in a Twenty20 competition involving hosts Kenya, the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh in early September to prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup.