Mike Hesson has been appointed interim head coach of Pakistan's Test team after seven players and his predecessor were sent home following a 2-0 series deficit to England. The New Zealander, who was only in the UK this week to meet King Charles, now faces the task of restoring pride in the third Test at Edgbaston starting next week.
Hesson, previously Pakistan's white-ball coach, was parachuted in after the team's "nuclear response" to going 2-0 down. "It's been pretty challenging," he said. "I was heading over to see the king and be part of a nice occasion. That got expedited."
A Week of Chaos
Even by Pakistan's standards, the past week has been chaotic. Three of the seven dropped players – Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha – were told their tour was over immediately after the defeat at Lord's. Hesson said he was not privy to that decision by high performance director Aaqib Javed, nor was he able to share the precise reasons why.
Once asked to take over as head coach, Hesson assessed the team's remaining shortcomings and the blend needed in Birmingham, resulting in four further members of the tour party being swapped out. Ali Usman, for example, was sent home as a spinner is unlikely to be needed. Of the seven players being flown in, three were still due to arrive in the UK on Friday.
Restoring Identity
Hesson believes a reset has occurred after holding one-on-one talks with remaining squad members and drilling them at Edgbaston's indoor school due to rain. "I don't think anyone wants this to happen in the middle of a series, clearly not," he said. "From my perspective, it's about putting a balanced squad together so we actually have some variety in our attack. Pakistan is known for pace, unusual actions, mystery spin – we haven't really been able to present any of that."
He added: "There's been talk about having an identity as a Test team, and that does come from stability. But it also comes from being authentic to the way your team plays. We have to get back to that."
Hesson Denies Reports
Hesson did not commit to the Pakistan Test role beyond next week and took issue with a report that the Pakistan Cricket Board asked the dropped players to stay on for a reception with King Charles to bolster their numbers – and Agha refused. He said: "I know there's been a void in the news but people are just making up stories. Three players were released from the squad before I arrived and well before [the reception]. [The organisers] were sent a note at the time that these three players will not be attending.
"All of the rest of the players in the squad were already on the list. I was on the list as the white-ball head coach. There were no changes to it. Someone has put two and two together and come up with nine. For me, that's unacceptable journalism."
England Squad News
Meanwhile, Jacob Bethell is set to be out of action until England's white-ball tour of Australia in November after undergoing knee surgery at the start of the week. In his absence, Derbyshire's Aneurin Donald has been called up to England's Twenty20 squad for the forthcoming series against Sri Lanka. Henry Crocombe has been added to England's seamers for the one-day internationals following recent back-to-back hat-tricks for Sussex. Brydon Carse has been overlooked for both squads while investigations continue into the late-night incident that led to his dropping from the second Test. Phil Salt misses both series with a quad injury.
