Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Tuesday confirmed the appointment of former South Africa first-class cricketer Michael Smith as the new batting coach of the Pakistan men’s cricket team for a two-year term.
Smith will join the Pakistan team ahead of the three-match Test series against England, commencing August 19. He will work with the team across both red-ball and white-ball formats.
The 46-year-old South African, who has featured in 89 first-class matches, 72 List-A matches and 16 T20 matches from 2003 to 2013, has served on the coaching staff in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with Islamabad United, Karachi Kings and, earlier this season, was Multan Sultans’ assistant coach. He has also worked as batting coach with Australia’s Hobart Hurricanes and Cricket Tasmania and was a coaching consultant for South Africa’s KZN Inland and Eastern Province
Pakistan has had frequent changes in the team management, with Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Andrew Puttick and Shafiq serving in the post in the last three years.Their batting has been failing in Test matches as they have lost eight successive Tests abroad, the worst sequence in their history.
Pakistan failed to chase a modest 211-run target in the first Test against the West Indies at Tarouba last week and faces their first series defeat against the West Indies in 26 years.
Pakistan, who are currently playing a Test series against the West Indies, are placed ninth in the ICC World Test Championship standings. They will need to win the rest of their matches to pose a challenge for a top-two spot.
