Miandad has been an outspoken critic of the PCB in recent years

Miandad, who played 124 Tests and had three spells as coach up to 2004, said: "How can you expect a foreigner to have the patriotism a Pakistani does?

"Instead of bringing in foreigners the Pakistan board should first try to improve the grass-root cricket level.

"If foreign coaches can guarantee a certain level of performance, fine. Otherwise it is a waste of money."

Lawson beat fellow Australian Dav Whatmore, the former Bangladesh and Sri Lanka coach, to the job.

"Even if you want to hire a foreigner, then why not do it on merit? If merit is the benchmark then Whatmore knows subcontinental teams better than Lawson," said Miandad.

He added that former Pakistan players such as Intikhab, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis would have been better choices.

Another former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam, who held a managerial role when Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992, also questioned the appointment of another foreign coach to succeed the late Bob Woolmer.

I worked as manager with Woolmer and I can say our own players are equally good Zaheer Abbas

"I have nothing against Lawson but he should be prepared for a lot of criticism and a hard time," he said.

"The board should first try to find out if we really need a foreign coach and then take a decision."

Legendary batsman Zaheer Abbas, who scored more than 5,000 Test runs and who worked with the team in an administrative role during Woolmer's reign, was angered when news of the appointment was made by Lawson in the Australian media before the result of a Pakistan board meeting to discuss the issue was announced.

"What was the purpose of having the meeting if the board had already taken a decision?" he said

Zaheer also suggested a member of the Pakistan squad, either recent or current, should have been chosen as the new man at the helm.

"I worked as manager with Woolmer and I can say our own players are equally good," he insisted.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf was forced to deny that player power led to Lawson's appointment over the more experienced Dav Whatmore.

"We took the players' opinion but it's wrong to say that the decision was made on that, we considered all points," he said.