Aiming to strengthen the national team’s batting, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to appoint former South Africa batter Michael Smith as the batting coach of the Pakistan men’s team.
According to reports, Smith is expected to begin his role with the upcoming tour of England, where Pakistan will be looking to improve his batting consistency.
The appointment comes after a series of disappointing batting performances that have raised concerns in the setup.
The team has been frequently hit with batting collapses across formats in recent months, often failing to capitalize the starts or substantial partnerships.
These struggles in Pakistan’s set up has made PCB strengthen their coaching staff with a specialist focused solely on improving the batting unit.
Regarded as a level-4 certified batting coach, Michael Smith will bring in extensive coaching experience gained in both domestic and franchise cricket.
Although he represented South Africa only in first-class cricket during his playing days, he has earned greater recognition for his work as a batting mentor, particularly in the T20 format.
According to reports, PCB has come in verbal agreement with Smith after shortlisting him from the pool of candidates. The board had invited applications through a public advertisement searching for a long-term batting coach.
Michael Smith is expected to join the Pakistan squad for the upcoming England series later this month. He earned a strong reputation as a batting coach in franchise cricket and has worked with several Pakistan Super League (PSL) teams.
His familiarity with Pakistan conditions and domestic players is believed to have strengthened his position as batting coach.
Pakistan is set to travel to England for a three-match test series with the first test to begin on August 19 at Headingley, Carnegie.
The second and third tests will begin on August 27 and September 03 played at London and Birmingham, before the five-match ODI series.