“Pakistan Cricketers Accustomed to ‘Chaos’: Interim Head Coach Hesson”

Pakistan’s new interim head coach Mike Hesson has expressed hope of a turnaround in the third and final Test against England in Birmingham next week, but blames a dramatically changed squad and the “chaos” that characterizes Pakistani cricket.

Pakistan lost the first Test of the three-match series at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs. Then, they lost the second Test at Lord’s by 194 runs on Sunday to go 0-2 down in the series. After such a humiliating defeat, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took an unprecedented decision.

Midway through, seven players were sent back from the team and seven new players were called up. At the same time, Test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked and limited-overs coach Mike Hesson was appointed as the interim Test head coach.

Among the players sent back to the country are senior players like Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha. Salman Ali Agha led the team after Babar Azam was injured at Headingley. Left-arm spinner Ali Usman, who took five wickets in the first Test, and pacer Khurram Shahzad have also been sent back. On the other hand, of the seven new players in the team, only batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have previous Test experience.

But Hesson is hopeful that the new team will be able to quickly put together a positive performance before the third Test, which begins at Edgbaston on September 9. The New Zealand coach was recently in Japan preparing for the Asian Games. His main reason for coming to the UK was the Pakistan team’s pre-arranged meeting with King Charles III, which took place last Wednesday.

“I was coming to see the King and to take part in a beautiful ceremony. But the situation suddenly changed very quickly,” Hesson was quoted as saying by the BBC while addressing the media at Edgbaston on Friday.

He added, “The last few days have been quite challenging. The hotel room was bustling with players coming and going, and the new arrivals on the other. But the boys are probably more used to this kind of chaos than I am. There’s no doubt that they were extremely disappointed in the first two matches. But we had to put that disappointment behind us and think – what do we do next? The boys have responded very positively in the last two days.”

Referring to such a change in mid-match, Hesson said, “I don’t think any team should go through such a situation mid-match in a series. But from my point of view, it was necessary to form a balanced team for this Test, so that we have diversity in our bowling attack. The Pakistan team is known for its pace, its varied bowling action and its mysterious spin – but we haven’t been able to showcase any of that in the previous two matches.”