[Reports] Gary Kirsten and Andy Flower being considered for Pakistan Head Coach role

[Colorblind Genius]

Islamabad: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to remove Misbah-ul-Haq and bring in a foreign coach after the home series against South Africa, sources told ARY News.

The cricket board is not happy with Misbah’s performance under whom Pakistan just won three home Tests during more than a year period.

“PCB has decided to remove Misbah. Gary Kristen and Andy Flower are among the foreign coaches who are up for the vacant place,” a reliable source told ARY News’ correspondent.

It must be noted here that Misbah had already been removed from chief selector and batting coach’s posts. The head coach received immense backlash after Pakistan badly lost two-matches Test series against New Zealand. Since Misbah took charge in 2019, Pakistan has only won home Tests against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The green shirts lost the home T20I series against Sri Lanka immediately after he took charge.

https://arysports.tv/foreign-coach-replace-misbah-south-africa-series-sources/

 

[Mamoon]

G. Flower? Surely it has to be a typo. Must be A. Flower.

 

[Asif321]

What a joke appointment was this . They made a circus of it . First imran Khan and Wasim Khan should answer this . How visionless was this . From 3 positions to nill .
Totally pathetic

 

[YousafTheBeast]

God Is Great.

 

[Khan12]

Why can't we remove this junk now.

 

[Asif321]

Waqar should be thrown out too.
Will be Great for Amir . He must be delighted

 

[MoJoJoJo]

From what i know Gary refused to take up the role, and andy has asked for some time before making a call..

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Waqar should be thrown out too.
Will be Great for Amir . He must be delighted

Amir must be laughing right now. Hopefully Andy Flower does the right thing and calls him back.

 

[MoJoJoJo]

Waqar needs to be thrown out of PCB forever too.. Idk why but this guy just give me bad vibes. He ruined so many careers tbh.

 

[naseem]

Some good news...but need good fielding coach too

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

From what i know Gary refused to take up the role, and andy has asked for some time before making a call..

IPL contracts will play a factor.

A. Flower is a hard task master and they don't end will in Pak unless he softens like Mickey did to prolong his career.

 

[Devadwal]

I think if Pakistan can whitewash south Africa , everything will be forgetten .

 

[Titan24]

Is this legit?

Don't think so, another rumor. Too good to be true.

ARY is a pretty big media house. I dont think they would put out a news like this on their sports website if there were no solid sources.

 

[Kroll]

What a joke appointment was this . They made a circus of it . First imran Khan and Wasim Khan should answer this . How visionless was this . From 3 positions to nill .
Totally pathetic

Couldn't agree more, although I am beginning feel a bit sorry for Misbah, it's been a total waste of 13 months.

In addition, someone else needs to spend time cleaning up the mess.

 

[Hasan123]

Believe it when I see it happen.

 

[Titan24]

If the decision has already been made then as I said in another thread, Misbah's contract should have been ended before the SA series as you dont want such morale going into an important home series. Interim coach could have been easily appointed for SA series.

 

[Rana]

Some good news...but need good fielding coach too

LOL. These coaches are not going to come without the basic support staff in place. They wont stand for Chacha Heer Ranjha of defence block 4 to look after the team's fielding the way Misbah and Waqar were doing so.

 

[Rana]

Couldn't agree more, although I am beginning feel a bit sorry for Misbah, it's been a total waste of 13 months.

In addition, someone else needs to spend time cleaning up the mess.

Joke 13 months? Surely no coach in the history of the game has been given the head coach role of an international country as a first stint into coaching? Misbah can use his credentials to find a job as one of the support coaches at Eton college

 

[MoJoJoJo]

IPL contracts will play a factor.

A. Flower is a hard task master and they don't end will in Pak unless he softens like Mickey did to prolong his career.

Him accepting the offer will be a massive massive thing. He has brilliant credentials unlike the guy in charge who has nothing to show except dragging our team to the same azhar ali era, mickey dragged us out from.

 

[Yk313]

LOL. These coaches are not going to come without the basic support staff in place. They wont stand for Chacha Heer Ranjha of defence block 4 to look after the team's fielding the way Misbah and Waqar were doing so.

Lol @ Chacha Heer Ranjha

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

If the decision has already been made then as I said in another thread, Misbah's contract should have been ended before the SA series as you dont want such morale going into an important home series. Interim coach could have been easily appointed for SA series.

They can't terminate Misbah's contract as it would cost them a lot of money.

The best they can do is give him another role in the administration or create one if necessary. Unless Misbah himself agrees to end the partnership.

After the SA series there isn't anything till April so that would give the PCB enough time to appoint another coach.

 

[Titan24]

G. Flower? Surely it has to be a typo. Must be A. Flower.

I am pretty sure its Andy Flower as per the news circulating around. Definitely a typo in the article.

 

[Kroll]

Joke 13 months? Surely no coach in the history of the game has been given the head coach role of an international country as a first stint into coaching? Misbah can use his credentials to find a job as one of the support coaches at Eton college

Yep, as you rightly said, bringing back Mo Irfan out of retirement home for the Aus series was one of the biggest jokes.

 

[Yk313]

Him accepting the offer will be a massive massive thing. He has brilliant credentials unlike the guy in charge who has nothing to show except dragging our team to the same azhar ali era, mickey dragged us out from.

The news links seem to say Grant Flower instead of Andy Flower.

But if we assume it is Andy, his acceptance (chances are minuscule) will mean the end of Abid, Haris, Yasir and similar players who are not fitness, training and work ethic conscious. How long would the inital contract be anyway, there’s been a lot of chopping and changing.

 

[ahmedzee]

I saw it today too on Public news about this. Gary refused and Andy is asking for some time to be considered. He is already with Multan Sultans as coach so might be a good option.

 

[saeed5646]

will be huge egg on the faces who said it no foreign coaches will coach pak ever again .Importantly how much pcb is willing to offer

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Him accepting the offer will be a massive massive thing. He has brilliant credentials unlike the guy in charge who has nothing to show except dragging our team to the same azhar ali era, mickey dragged us out from.

True. I just don't see guys like Kirsten risking their relationship with the BCCI/IPL for this job.

A. Flower might be Pak's only hope considering he has already visited and lived in Pak for a coaching assignment in the PSL.

Don't know if there are any other decent B category coaches available?

 

[Rana]

They can't terminate Misbah's contract as it would cost them a lot of money.

The best they can do is give him another role in the administration or create one if necessary. Unless Misbah himself agrees to end the partnership.

After the SA series there isn't anything till April so that would give the PCB enough time to appoint another coach.

I think thats what they are doing. They most likely have sent him a notice of termination, and the next coach will most likely be announced/finalised by February. They must have some poor performance termination clause in his contract. Or they will simply cough up the money and pay him if they dont. Its a responsible decision unlike the one they took to appoint him.

 

[Yk313]

ARY is a pretty big media house. I dont think they would put out a news like this on their sports website if there were no solid sources.

Actually ARY can. Pretty big media house but, as is the case with most institutions in PAK jostling for power, ARY can pull some stunts. See it to believe it should be our response.

 

[MMHS]

Great news then. Gary is a fantastic coach - won a WC for India, in India. Ittefaq se, next WC is also in India.

Grant, I am not sure - guy must be desperate to take revenge on the knife action by YK .... imagine Grant as Head Coach and YK batting coach..... vengeance.

 

[Titan24]

They can't terminate Misbah's contract as it would cost them a lot of money.

The best they can do is give him another role in the administration or create one if necessary. Unless Misbah himself agrees to end the partnership.

After the SA series there isn't anything till April so that would give the PCB enough time to appoint another coach.

Fair enough but, I hope he is professional enough that he wont let this influence him during the SA series.

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

We barely have squad depth never mind coaching depth. We need to do this as quickly as possible and start planning for the WC.

 

[Titan24]

Actually ARY can. Pretty big media house but, as is the case with most institutions in PAK jostling for power, ARY can pull some stunts. See it to believe it should be our response.

Yes looks like they messed up the name as well by possibly mixing Andy with Grant Flower. However this is not the only media group talking about this but, will have to wait and watch I guess.

 

[Markhor]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

 

[mon858]

seems like masala nows or major typo of saying grant vs andy.

 

[Khan12]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

And hoepfully for talentless hardworking players like Shan.

 

[JibranAnsari]

as long as a foreign coach is employed , all the pakistan former players will come out with their guns blazing about why was a foreign coach needed when we have likes of intekhab alam , sarfraz nawaz , mohsin khan etc.

 

[Hasan123]

Don't see Gary Kirsten taking the job. He has 3 children, with these covid restrictions he will be spending a lot of time away from his family. Gary himself said last year he thinks this is why he didn't get the England job due to family. It's just my opinion but I don't see Kirsten taking the job. Let's be honest he could get another better offer from India or England if he really did want to coach in international cricket or he could take the easy money from coaching in franchise cricket.

 

[Sir-fraz]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

If you cant work hard you shouldnt be there, there are literally only 15 spots in the team, only hard workers whi have hunger to win should be allowed

Dont nees cowrds with a losers mentality playing in the team.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

IPL contracts will play a factor.

A. Flower is a hard task master and they don't end will in Pak unless he softens like Mickey did to prolong his career.

A hard taskmaster is exactly what our guys need. Rixon was another hard taskmaster and look at the results he was producing.

 

[Bhaijaan]

I'm so glad Gary coached India to a world cup win. He is our greatest ever coach after John Wright.

I'm sorry but western hardcore professionalism doesn't work in SC where you need a human touch which is why Wright, Gary, Woolmer worked much better here than others.

Andy works well in ECB system, he would be a failure for Pakistan.

Gary, if he agrees to work with Pakistan will be something.

Also, he is well respected by ex Pakistani cricketers who remember his grit and determination against them and would not be able to ridicule him like they usually bully chhangu-maangu people.

 

[Ahmed216]

I think shoaib akhtar should be appointed. Our players really do lack badmaashi. Shoaib will give our players the room to do some badtameezi. He will give them azaadi to express themselves on the field.

 

[Khan12]

I think shoaib akhtar should be appointed. Our players really do lack badmaashi. Shoaib will give our players the room to do some badtameezi. He will give them azaadi to express themselves on the field.

No thank you we dont need a barking clown.

 

[CleverSir]

From what i know Gary refused to take up the role, and andy has asked for some time before making a call..

Were you in the meetings?

 

[Markhor]

Doubt Grant will take the job so soon after accepting the Sri Lanka batting coach position.

 

[Khan12]

Doubt Grant will take the job so soon after accepting the Sri Lanka batting coach position.

I think its andy they have mixed up.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Andy Flower is exactly the kind of coach this side needs.

 

[mon858]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

would be good to know perspective of multan sultans folks about him. even Mickey was known for this but seemed to have changed his approach post the Aus debacle so perhaps Andy has learned as well.

Not sure if anyone at PP can reach out to get a perspective...

 

[Markhor]

And hoepfully for talentless hardworking players like Shan.

Not sure where you got that I'm a Shan fan - I'm just not supporting domestic journeymen like Israrullah or Zain Abbas coming in or TTFs like Imam who can't play short ball even in UAE. After Sharjeel Khan, they are your best performing domestic openers.

So maybe read what I said more carefully before jumping to conclusions.

 

[Khan12]

Not sure where you got that I'm a Shan fan - I'm just not supporting domestic journeymen like Israrullah or Zain Abbas coming in or TTFs like Imam who can't play short ball even in UAE. After Sharjeel Khan, they are your best performing domestic openers.

So maybe read what I said more carefully before jumping to conclusions.

Imam given a long rope like shan will comfortablly outperform him. Talking about imam short ball we saw how good shan was against the short ball in UAE too. Israrullah and zain abbas are garabge and not international class they would still average similar to junk shan.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I'm so glad Gary coached India to a world cup win. He is our greatest ever coach after John Wright.

I'm sorry but western hardcore professionalism doesn't work in SC where you need a human touch which is why Wright, Gary, Woolmer worked much better here than others.

Andy works well in ECB system, he would be a failure for Pakistan.

Gary, if he agrees to work with Pakistan will be something.

Also, he is well respected by ex Pakistani cricketers who remember his grit and determination against them and would not be able to ridicule him like they usually bully chhangu-maangu people.

Unless you know Andy personally, this is a very reductive take.

Andy has never coached a SC side before so its premature to assume that he doesn't have a 'human touch' or can't work outside the English system. Good coaches adapt to different environments while retaining the values and ideas that make them good coaches.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

A hard taskmaster is exactly what our guys need. Rixon was another hard taskmaster and look at the results he was producing.

People used to say that about Mickey as well, but even he had to change to be effective in Pakistan.

I am sure Andy has tasted the cricket culture in the PSL and might adjust according to it otherwise there will be another players' revolt.

Being ruthless during selections and being a father to the ones picked is the only method that works in Pakistan.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Imam given a long rope like shan will comfortablly outperform him. Talking about imam short ball we saw how good shan was against the short ball in UAE too. Israrullah and zain abbas are garabge and not international class they would still average similar to junk shan.

Shan has been in horrid form recently but you can't simply gloss over the fact that he scored 3 centuries last year, including one in England or that he was Pakistan's best batsmen in South Africa and got runs in Australia too. Besides Rizwan and Faheem all the batsmen failed in New Zealand. That doesn't mean they all should be dropped.

 

[Khan12]

Shan has been in horrid form recently but you can't simply gloss over the fact that he scored 3 centuries last year, including one in England or that he was Pakistan's best batsmen in South Africa and got runs in Australia too. Besides Rizwan and Faheem all the batsmen failed in New Zealand. That doesn't mean they all should be dropped.

Azhar was decent fawad got a hundred while shan scored a duck after a duck. The huy averages 29.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

People used to say that about Mickey as well, but even he had to change to be effective in Pakistan.

I am sure Andy has tasted the cricket culture in the PSL and might adjust according to it otherwise there will be another players' revolt.

Being ruthless during selections and being a father to the ones picked is the only method that works in Pakistan.

Mickey was still able to incorporate a level of professionalism into the side, which was something significant considering where the side was in 2016.

The real taskmaster was Rixon, who was actually changing the way Pakistan fielded and who the PCB never paid on time. As soon as he left Pakistan's fielding fell off a cliff once again.

 

[Mamoon]

It will take a lot of convincing to get Kirsten on board. If Wasim can pull it off hats off to him. I believe he will turn us down and rightly so.

He is a World Cup winner with India and will get a lot of IPL opportunities in the future. He must be really, really desperate to get involved in the mediocre world of Pakistan cricket.

Andy Flower is more realistic, and Grant Flower will grab the opportunity with both hands.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Azhar was decent fawad got a hundred while shan scored a duck after a duck. The huy averages 29.

He had a couple of bad series. Should get another chance at home. If he fails there then send him back to domestic. But its hardly fair to drop him for failing in New Zealand, a country where Kohli averaged 9.50 last year in the same number of innings.

 

[Khan12]

He had a couple of bad series. Should get another chance at home. If he fails there then send him back to domestic. But its hardly fair to drop him for failing in New Zealand, a country where Kohli averaged 9.50 last year in the same number of innings.

Yes when shan reaches that level he can average 0 for more then a series and you wont hear people talking about dropping him. But shan will never get to that level if he had 100 lives.

 

[in_cutter]

Kirsten has apparently rejected the role...

 

[MoJoJoJo]

Were you in the meetings?

That's what i know and certain tv channels reported. That news is all over twitter as well, but em taking the social media stuff as the pinch of salt. Still a couple of big media houses reporting the same.. must have some credibility..

 

[hitthestump]

The way we got rid of Mickey (putting his replacement on the board which decided his future) will surely put off a lot of foreign coaches from coming here. Pakistan is bad on the field but also utterly chaotic and corrupt off it.

It's very hard to be a success as a Pakistan coach and incredibly easy to flop. Not sure it's the attractive proposition it once was especially with so many joke easy coaching opportunities with league sides these days.

 

[Energy]

This news has made my day, which was very frustrating with work until now.

The bottom line is PCB is now aggressively approaching foreign experts for the coaching gig and not waiting until the T20I WC by which it will be too late.

 

[Slog]

I can bet money Gary Kirsten won’t be joining thhis circus freak show. Also if he was genuinely interested then he would have gone for South Africa. He has already said he won’t do international head coach assignments due to the time commitments and travel. He left India job out of it and took South Africa because it was home but even that was too much.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Andy Flower will be a win. Gary I would have liked but seems unlikely. Andy though? He’s the perfect taskmaster who knows how to use data which we desperately need in our setup.

Hopefully he brings Steve Rixon with him.

 

[Titan24]

Kirsten has apparently rejected the role...

Well they should have given him an offer that he couldnt have refused, only thats how you get top coaches.

 

[Slog]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

You are forgetting that he will be operating in Pakistan and it won’t be his way or the highway.

But we def need a hard taskmaster who also knows modern coaching methods. We either get hard taskmasters with dehati training mentalities like Waqar or softies like Mickey who kept lowering their standards.

 

[Slog]

Well they should have given him an offer that he couldnt have refused, only thats how you get top coaches.

I have even less trust in PCB planning g and decision making now that they went for Gary Kirsten. I could have told with 100% certainty he won’t take this role. He’s literally said it a dozen times that he doesn’t want to coach international teams and if he did it will be South Africa for patriotism or india for the money and talent on offer. Pakistan makes no sense.

Andy would have been the same boat till 2-3 years ago but I feel he is getting the itch to get back in the big leagues recently considering he’s been accepting random coaching roles at franchise level.

 

[aloo paratha]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

doesn't he coach Multan Sultans? And MS selected Zeeshan Ashraf who is pretty unfit.

 

[Slog]

As I said elsewhere, Andy Flower is the hardest of all taskmasters.

English players still have PTSD from his era as seen in The Edge.

He'll have no patience for likes of Haris Sohail and other unfit uncles.

There were also many reports of player unhappiness and factions which all exploded eventually. I just don’t know if he would be a nice fit for us. Also his ODI record wasn’t the greatest (if I remember he was relieved duties). So he isn’t the perfect option by any means.

But st this point can’t be too picky. I’d take any coach with foreignexperience

 

[Thunderbolt14]

You are forgetting that he will be operating in Pakistan and it won’t be his way or the highway.

But we def need a hard taskmaster who also knows modern coaching methods. We either get hard taskmasters with dehati training mentalities like Waqar or softies like Mickey who kept lowering their standards.

I think Andy strikes the right balance. After his experience with the English setup, he’ll have come away with a few learnings on where he understands better where to be a hard taskmaster and where players need support. He’s also worked with Multan, where players have responded fabulously to his coaching methods. This shows he can adapt to the requirements of the subcontinent, and coming from Zimbabwe himself he knows a thing or two about maximizing limited resources.

 

[Bigboii]

I know everyone's happy rn but something should be said about

Wasim khan

He put in Azhar only to remove him afterwards (rightfully so)
Same with Misbah
Same with waqar hopefully

Why make stupid decision in the first placd only to realize they were stupid

This shows a problem with his abilities in terms of picking up people for the right job

 

[Savak]

We need these foreign coaches at our grass roots, academies, domestic cricket and need their influence for the next 10-15 years so that they can mentor, train new coaches, bring an overall change in the coaching culture at the grass roots. That is the only way you will bring about modern changes at the bottom which will only serve as a ready well trained pipeline which feeds into the senior national team.

 

[Bigboii]

Kirsten has apparently rejected the role...

Wasim khan should have been like

 

[Savak]

I know everyone's happy rn but something should be said about

Wasim khan

He put in Azhar only to remove him afterwards (rightfully so)
Same with Misbah
Same with waqar hopefully

Why make stupid decision in the first placd only to realize they were stupid

This shows a problem with his abilities in terms of picking up people for the right job

It doesn't reflect good on WK, but its also good that instead of perpetually sticking to a bad choice to save face, he is willing to bite the bullet and change things

 

[Savak]

What the PCB should be aiming for is a seperate coach for the limited overs and T-20 format, someone who is fitness motivated, someone who is also a power hitting coach, someone who has played a lot of T-20 cricket and knows about different variations, how to stem the flow of runs, disciplined defensive line lengths, field placements

 

[Savak]

Not sure if Gary Kirsten is the right fit. The guy didn't achieve success in his coaching stints at the IPL. You could argue he got lucky with the Indian team as it was a very strong batting unit and he had a good able leader in Dhoni.

 

[Savak]

I'm so glad Gary coached India to a world cup win. He is our greatest ever coach after John Wright.

I'm sorry but western hardcore professionalism doesn't work in SC where you need a human touch which is why Wright, Gary, Woolmer worked much better here than others.

Andy works well in ECB system, he would be a failure for Pakistan.

Gary, if he agrees to work with Pakistan will be something.

Also, he is well respected by ex Pakistani cricketers who remember his grit and determination against them and would not be able to ridicule him like they usually bully chhangu-maangu people.

Andy Flower was also a very gritty, determined cricketer. Andy Flower actually was a legend with the bat and he would have achieved a lot more recognition, adulation with the bat had he not been playing for Zimbabwe. After Lara, i have never seen anyone else school Murlitharan as badly as he did, playing reverse sweeps against him at will

 

[Thunderbolt14]

We need these foreign coaches at our grass roots, academies, domestic cricket and need their influence for the next 10-15 years so that they can mentor, train new coaches, bring an overall change in the coaching culture at the grass roots. That is the only way you will bring about modern changes at the bottom which will only serve as a ready well trained pipeline which feeds into the senior national team.

Note Grant Bradburn.

 

[Markhor]

We need these foreign coaches at our grass roots, academies, domestic cricket and need their influence for the next 10-15 years so that they can mentor, train new coaches, bring an overall change in the coaching culture at the grass roots. That is the only way you will bring about modern changes at the bottom which will only serve as a ready well trained pipeline which feeds into the senior national team.

Andy Flower might be a good fit then as he literally had that job with England after leaving the Head Coach position.

He was Technical Director of Elite Coaching, overseeing all the County and Academy coaches.

 

[Slog]

Not sure if Gary Kirsten is the right fit. The guy didn't achieve success in his coaching stints at the IPL. You could argue he got lucky with the Indian team as it was a very strong batting unit and he had a good able leader in Dhoni.

Taking South Africa team to #1?