Mike Hesson is the New Zealander who rebuilt Pakistan’s white-ball side into a genuine contender, and from September 9 he adds the Test job too. The PCB handed him interim charge after sacking Sarfaraz Ahmed following a fourth defeat in six Tests. Hesson already has 53 Tests of head-coach experience with New Zealand, a 2015 World Cup final, and eighteen months turning Pakistan’s bilateral win rate from one in five games to three in four. He now inherits a squad missing five first-choice players for Edgbaston.
Sarfaraz Ahmed’s Record That Sealed His Exit
Sarfaraz Ahmed took over as Pakistan’s red-ball head coach on April 18, 2026, with no senior head-coaching experience beyond the Shaheens and the Under-19 setup. Six Tests later, the PCB had seen enough of the results to end the experiment.
| Series | Venue | Result | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh (2 Tests) | Bangladesh | Lost 0-2 | Pakistan’s first-ever home series defeat to Bangladesh |
| West Indies (2 Tests) | West Indies | Drawn 1-1 | One win, one loss, survived after batting collapses |
| England (2 Tests) | England | Lost 0-2 | Innings and 103 runs at Headingley, 194 runs at Lord’s |
Six matches produced one win and five defeats, and the timing made the numbers sting harder. Pakistan now sit at 154 Test losses against 153 wins from 473 matches, the first time in their history that defeats outnumber victories. Bowling coach Umar Gul was removed in the same reshuffle, replaced by the former Australia seamer Ashley Noffke. The Bangladesh series alone carried extra weight, since it marked the first time Pakistan had ever lost a home Test series to that opponent.
Mike Hesson, Pakistan Test Coach
The 51-year-old has coached in seven different roles across four countries, and Pakistan is banking on that range. He led Otago to one-day and T20 domestic titles between 2004 and 2011, then took New Zealand through 53 Tests as head coach from 2012 to 2018, finishing with 21 wins, 13 draws and 19 losses and a run to the 2015 World Cup final.
Three straight IPL playoff appearances followed at Royal Challengers Bangalore before a move to Islamabad United, who were reigning PSL champions when the PCB pulled him into the white-ball setup in May 2025. He replaced Aaqib Javed on an interim basis after a first-round Champions Trophy exit and a lost series in New Zealand, then turned the bilateral win rate from around 20 percent to close to three-quarters of matches within a year, winning two T20I tri-series and reaching last year’s Asia Cup final.
Pakistan’s Uncapped Reinforcements for Edgbaston
Edgbaston on September 9 will look nothing like the side beaten at Lord’s. Mohammad Rizwan makes way behind the stumps for Saad Baig, an uncapped 19-year-old who was Player of the Tournament at the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Imam-ul-Haq’s calf injury opens a middle-order spot for Saim Ayub, already capped eight times, while the two-Test Abdullah Fazal replaces Salman Ali Agha.
The attack changes just as sharply. Ali Usman gives way to the uncapped spinning all-rounder Arafat Minhas, Aamir Jamal to the uncapped left-armer Mohammad Imran Jnr, and Khurram Shahzad to the uncapped Razaullah. Muhammad Awais Zafar’s place goes to Mohammad Imran Randhawa, a seam-bowling all-rounder with a long domestic résumé at Bahawalpur. Babar Azam captains a squad now shaped as much by Quaid-e-Azam Trophy form as by international pedigree.
Pakistan’s Grim History Against England
England’s clean sweep in Pakistan in 2022, built on 348 runs from a losing Babar Azam, still stands as the low point of this rivalry’s recent past. Pakistan hit back two years later, winning 2-1 at home on the strength of Noman Ali‘s 20 wickets and Saud Shakeel’s 280 runs, reversing the opening Test with an innings victory. That recovery now looks like an outlier, a single bright spell in an otherwise one-sided rivalry over the past half-decade.
England lead the current series 2-0 after two innings-margin wins, the second of which ended Pakistan’s sixteen-year unbeaten run at Lord’s and gave England their first series win since December 2024. Across the last five years, England have won six of eight completed Tests between the sides, and two of three series. That task now falls to Mike Hesson, Pakistan Test coach, arriving in interim charge of a rivalry that has swung firmly away from his new team.