Mike Hesson was only in the UK this week to meet King Charles. But now the New Zealander finds himself interim head coach of a Pakistan Test side that have sent seven players and his predecessor home. As Hesson put it after his first net session: “The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am.” Even by Pakistan’s standards, this past week has been more than a little chaotic, with their somewhat nuclear response to going 2-0 down to England the talk of the sport.
Hesson, previously Pakistan’s white-ball coach, has been parachuted in to restore some pride in the third Test at Edgbaston that starts next week. That got expedited.” After holding one-on-one talks with the remaining squad members this week, and then drilling them at Edgbaston’s indoor school due to rain, Hesson believes a reset has occurred. Of the seven players being flown in, three were still due to arrive in the UK on Friday.
As for the departed, Hesson tried his best to explain. In essence, three of the seven dropped – Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha – were told their tour was over immediately after the defeat at Lord’s. Hesson claims he was not privy to this decision by the high performance director, Aaqib Javed, nor was he able to share the precise reasons why.
But once asked to take over as head coach, for Hesson it was then a case of assessing 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. Hesson said: “I don’t think anyone wants this to happen in the middle of a series, clearly not.
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. But it also comes from being authentic to the way your team plays.
We have to get back to that.” Hesson did not commit to the Pakistan Test role beyond next week and looked to inject some calm into proceedings overall. But the former New Zealand head coach did take issue with a report that the Pakistan Cricket Board asked the dropped players to stay on for the 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.
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