Former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie on Sunday vowed to make Pakistan a consistent team after taking over as red-ball coach with a hectic six-month schedule in focus. The 49-year-old will begin his two-year tenure with a two-match series against Bangladesh next month, followed by three against England in October – both at home. Pakistan will also visit South Africa for two Tests in December before hosting West Indies in further Tests in January next year. Gillespie, who arrived on Sunday morning, said Pakistan are a “talented” team but need consistency.
“How they can be more consistent is something I hope to find some solutions for,” Gillespie said at a news conference.
He hopes Pakistan can improve on their fifth position in the current cycle of the World Test Championship, contested by nine teams since 2019.
“Ultimately we want to win Test cricket games,” Gillespie said.
“There are skilled cricketers here, how we can play as a team and perform well against good quality international opposition and that will be key for us.”
Coming from one of Australia’s best Test sides in the 1990s and 2000s, Gillespie played 71 Tests, 91 One-Day Internationals and a solitary T20I in a successful career.
He coached Yorkshire to win the English County Championship in 2014 and 2015.
Gillespie was brought in to improve the Pakistan Test team which lost 1-0 to Australia in 2021 before suffering a first home defeat 3-0 at the hands of England in the same year.
Pakistan were beaten 3-0 in Australia last year – their sixth losing run in Australia since 1999 – which Gillespie believed was not one-sided.
“As an outside observer, I think there were a few moments in games where Pakistan were on top but couldn’t finish well,” Gillespie reflected.
Pakistan wasted good positions in the second Test in Melbourne and the third in Sydney due to crucial dropped catches, leaving them branded as a poor fielding team.
He said Pakistan needed to be smart to combat what he called England’s “very aggressive” style of Test playing, nicknamed “Bazball” after their coach Brendon McCullum’s nickname.
“England will be a challenge, there’s no doubt about that. But I think we’re certainly up to it,” she said. “We’re going to play very smart.”
After being eliminated in the first round of the ODI World Cup last year in India and the Twenty20 in the USA and West Indies last month, where South African Gary Kirsten was the head coach, Pakistan will begin their Test series against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi from August 21 to 25. .
The second test will be in Karachi from August 30 to September 3.
They face England in three Tests starting in Multan (October 7-11), Karachi (October 15-19) and Rawalpindi (October 24-28).
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