Mike Hesson Open to Permanent Test Coach Role with Pakistan
Mike Hesson has made it clear: if Pakistan want him as their permanent Test coach, he’s ready to talk.
The 51-year-old New Zealander, parachuted in as an interim appointment for the third Test at Edgbaston, has barely had time to unpack. Yet already he is speaking like a man who can see a longer road ahead in Pakistan whites.
“I'll be open to it, for sure. I love Test cricket,” Hesson said, after overseeing an eight‑wicket defeat to England in Birmingham that at least carried a hint of resistance after two bruising weeks.
A brief audition in the middle of a storm
Hesson stepped into the role after Sarfaraz Ahmed was removed from Test duties in the wake of heavy losses at Headingley and Lord’s. The change came quickly, and brutally. Two crushing defeats, a shell-shocked dressing room, and a red-ball side drifting.
Into that came Hesson, already Pakistan’s limited-overs coach since May 2025, asked to steady the ship for a single Test. The result at Edgbaston went England’s way again, and convincingly, but the mood was different. Pakistan competed. They hung in sessions they had previously surrendered. It wasn’t enough, but it was something.
Hesson, though, is not selling miracles.
“I think there's enough talent around the system in Pakistan that if we can provide some good direction, we can make some strides forward,” he said. “It's certainly not going to happen in a game or two, but I think there is some skill there I'd certainly be considering looking after.”
That last line mattered. It sounded less like a caretaker and more like a candidate.
England came calling – and were turned away
The intrigue around Hesson stretches beyond Pakistan. He revealed he was sounded out earlier this year about the England Test job, as the England and Wales Cricket Board moved to replace Brendon McCullum.
McCullum’s high-octane tenure ended with his sacking in July, and the ECB ultimately turned to another New Zealander, Stephen Fleming. Before that, though, Hesson’s name was in the frame.
“I was contacted by my agent to say there had been an approach to have a discussion around my availability, as I'm sure many people were,” Hesson said. “I made it pretty clear I had committed to Pakistan.”
It fits his pattern. During his six-year spell in charge of New Zealand from 2012 to 2018, Hesson built a reputation for staying the course, shaping a side over time rather than chasing quick hits.
“Most of the positions I've been in, I've been in for five or six years. I see it through, then you have a break, then you refresh and try for something else,” he explained.
If Pakistan’s board wants continuity and a project, he is spelling out exactly what that would look like.
Pakistan’s Test game at a crossroads
The wider question is whether Pakistan, as a cricket system, truly wants to invest in Test cricket. Former captain Ramiz Raja, watching the Edgbaston defeat, admired the effort but did not disguise his concern.
He felt the players “put up a fight” in the eight-wicket loss, but that fight, he argued, will never be enough without structural backing for the longest format.
“It's time to revisit Test match cricket,” Ramiz told BBC Test Match Special. “It's back to the drawing board because in the sub-continent not a lot of emphasis is put on Test match cricket.”
His words cut to the heart of the issue. Hesson can offer direction. He can offer stability. But he cannot, on his own, change a culture that often prioritises white-ball success and short-term fixes.
Ramiz also pointed to the chaos around the team in recent weeks, hinting at turmoil beyond the boundary rope.
“Obviously there was mayhem around the team and that may have hurt the dressing room environment. But Pakistan were also a little underdone, undercooked with preparation.”
Underprepared. Undercooked. And now, under new interim management.
A decision Pakistan can’t dodge
So Pakistan stand at a familiar junction. A respected international coach, with a track record of long-term building, is willing to commit. The players, even in defeat, have shown enough to suggest there is raw material to work with.
The question is not whether Mike Hesson wants the job. He has answered that.
The question is whether Pakistan truly want a Test project that lasts five or six years, with all the patience and hard choices that come with it.
