Pakistan have ditched head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and sent several squad members back home in a dramatic response to successive Test thrashings by England, officials announced Monday.
The tourists suffered an innings and 103-run loss in the series opener at Headingley before going down by 194 runs at Lord’s on Sunday as England took an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match campaign.
The team has been labelled one of the country’s worst sides in decades and the Pakistan Cricket Board has now decided drastic action is required ahead of next month’s third Test at Edgbaston.
They have brought in white-ball coach Mike Hesson to replace former Pakistan captain Ahmed, with ex-Australia seamer Ashley Noffke taking over from tour bowling coach Umar Gul, while also making huge changes to the squad.
Among the players who have been axed are wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan and opener Imam-ul-Haq, unable to bat in either innings at Lord’s because of a calf strain.
Also returning home is Salman Ali Agha, Pakistan’s stand-in skipper at Headingley when regular captain Babar Azam was injured.
‘The Pakistan Cricket Board has today announced that seven players have been released from the Test squad following completion of the Lord’s Test,’ said a PCB statement issued Monday.
‘The players include Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad.’
The statement added: ‘Additionally, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul have also been released and will be replaced by Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke in the backroom staff.’
Root urges England to be ‘grown-ups’ after Pakistan series win: England captain Joe Root urged his side to celebrate in a ‘grown-up way’ after a 194-run success in the second Test.
Root returned for a second spell as Test captain following Ben Stokes’s shock international retirement and back-to-back thrashings of Pakistan mean that England have now won a multi-match series for the first time since December 2024.
England’s new-look pace quartet dismissed Pakistan for just 194 on Sunday as the hosts went 2-0 up in a three-match contest following their innings and 103-run win at Headingley.
But the build-up to the second Test was overshadowed by an incident which saw England quick Brydon Carse dropped from the squad after being handcuffed by police outside a Derby nightclub.
It was the latest in a series of alcohol-fuelled controversies that have dogged England since a disastrous tour of New Zealand and Australia at the end of last year. After white-ball captain Harry Brook was involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington, and videos circulated of England players appearing drunk on nights out during the 4-1 Ashes series thrashing by Australia, a curfew was introduced.
But in June, Stokes and Gus Atkinson were stood down from the second Test against New Zealand following an incident at a London bar which came after they broke the curfew.
One of Root’s first acts upon his return to the England captaincy was to ditch the curfew and call on players to take greater personal responsibility for their conduct, with the skipper saying on Sunday that he had had enough of discussing his team-mates’ off-field behaviour.
‘It’s important we’re not talking about that, absolutely,’ said Root. ‘It’s hard to win Test matches, hard to win Test series, so enjoy it and celebrate it, but in a sensible, grown-up way.’
Legacy: England’s four-man attack of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Atkinson again proved far too potent for Pakistan at Lord’s.
Root, who was able to call on England greats James Anderson and Stuart Broad in his first spell as skipper, has high hopes for his new fast-bowling quartet.