Mike Hesson Addresses Pakistan Selection Changes Ahead of Edgbaston Test
Pakistan’s chaotic red-ball reshuffle has a new face at the helm, but Mike Hesson is making one thing clear: the cull of senior players was not his call.
The interim red-ball coach, drafted in on short notice after Pakistan’s bruising start to the series in England, has distanced himself from the decision to send seven players home before the third and final Test at Edgbaston on September 9.
The visitors were already reeling. Hammered by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley, then beaten by 194 runs at Lord’s, Pakistan surrendered the series 2-0 with a match to spare. The Pakistan Cricket Board responded with sweeping changes that cut deep into both the dressing room and the coaching staff.
Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Imam-ul-Haq, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad were all released from the Test squad. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were also removed from their roles as the PCB ripped up the existing structure and turned to Hesson for the Edgbaston Test.
By the time his phone rang, Hesson says, some of the biggest names were already on the way out.
“They were already on their way home”
Speaking to the media in Birmingham on Friday, Hesson moved quickly to clarify his involvement in the high-profile omissions of Rizwan, Agha and Imam.
“When they (Pakistan Cricket Board) told me if I could manage the side for the final Test, these three players (Rizwan, Agha and Imam) were already released from the squad and (were) on their way home. So, I really don't know what happened there,” he said.
No ambiguity. No shared responsibility. The decision on the trio, he stressed, belonged entirely to others within the PCB hierarchy.
Once that line had been drawn, though, Hesson accepted that his fingerprints are on the rest of the overhaul.
“I was involved in the release of the rest of the players and the inclusion of some new players,” he said, confirming his role in reshaping the group that will walk out at Edgbaston.
The message was deliberate: he will own the changes he made, but not the ones that predated his appointment.
From white-ball duty to red-ball fire-fight
Hesson’s arrival has been anything but routine. He had just finished work with Pakistan’s white-ball setup, including a camp in Lahore, before being dragged into a red-ball crisis.
“We already had a white-ball camp in Lahore and I had just returned from Japan where the Asian Games are taking place, when I was asked if I could manage the red-ball squad,” he explained.
One moment he was moving between formats and continents, the next he was tasked with steadying a Test side battered by England and stripped of senior players and established coaches.
The backdrop is unforgiving. England have dominated both matches, exposed Pakistan’s frailties and forced the PCB into drastic action. Now an interim coach, a remodelled squad and a wounded team head to Edgbaston, where the noise will be loud and the scrutiny even louder.
Hesson has already signalled he wants more variety in the bowling attack. The bigger question is whether this hastily reconfigured Pakistan side can find any of it quickly enough to stop a clean sweep.
