Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed former South Africa first-class cricketer Michael Smith as their batting coach, starting with the England tour featuring three Tests. 46-year-old Smith has signed a two-year deal with PCB. He will join head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul.
Michael Smith’s coaching career
Smith has had various coaching stints including three with Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises. In the 2026 edition, he served as Multan Sultans' assistant coach. Earlier he was batting coach for Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Hobart Hurricanes and their domestic Tasmanian side. In South Africa's domestic circuit, he has been a coaching consultant at KZN Inland and Eastern Province as well.
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Who is Pakistan’s current batting coach?
Currently, on West Indies tour, national selector Asad Shafiq is serving as their batting coach. In the first Test, their batting lineup suffered a collapse and ended up losing the game by 90 runs. Earlier, they had faced collapses against Bangladesh as well, leading to them slipping to the bottom of World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 standings.
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Michael Smith’s domestic cricket career
Smith made his first-class debut in 2003. He played 89 first-class games and scored 4,867 runs at an average of 33.10. He has nine centuries and 25 fifties to his name in the format. In List A cricket, he has 1,883 runs, averaging nearly 30. He has 14 fifties in his One-Day career. He had a brief T20 career, scoring 279 runs from 15 innings. He managed just one fifty in the season.
A ray of hope for Pakistan
On Day 2 of the second Test against West Indies, Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq early to Shamar Joseph but they managed to post 266/2, trailing by just 78 runs. Their young opener Azan Awais scored 55 runs from 71 balls. After Awais' dismissal, Abdullah Shafique joined skipper Babar Azam in the middle. Replacing an injured Shan Masood, Shafique scored a century. He returned to the dressing room with 107 runs from 185 balls. On the other end, Babar is closing in on a ton. He has 88 runs from 126 balls. Pakistan were 266/2 at the end of Day 2's play.