PCB appoints new batting coach on two-year contract

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed Michael Smith as the new batting coach of the senior men's side. Smith, 46, is a South African with a rich vein of domestic playing experience, having represented Warriors and Eastern Province. He has been handed a two-year-contract, which gets underway with the upcoming three-match Test series against England.

A right-hand bat, Smith aggregated 4867 runs in 89 first-class games, averaging 33.10, including nine centuries and 25 fifties. He accumulated 1883 runs in List A cricket at an average of 28.96 and a strike rate of 74.66 with the help of 14 fifties.

T20s came in the latter half of his career, and he played 16 of them, scoring 279 runs at a strike rate of 94.89, with a solitary fifty. He was a part-time off-break bowler who claimed 19 wickets across List A and first-class cricket.

Smith holds a Level 4 coaching degree and has served as the batting coach of Cricket Tasmania and Hobart Hurricanes. He has also worked on the coaching staff of Multan Sultans, Islamabad United and Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Pakistan's batting hasn't held up well in a very long time, and their struggles, particularly in red-ball cricket, are very well documented. 

The first Test against West Indies at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba saw Pakistan's batting order cave in from a position of strength. The tourists were 244/3, looking steady for a first innings lead in response to 311 posted by Windies. But they lost seven wickets for just 38 runs on the board and got bundled out for just 282.

Their second innings performance was horrendous as they lost the Test by as many as 90 runs, chasing merely 211 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Barring Babar Azam, who remained unbeaten on 58, no other frontline batter could even cross double digits. The second-best score came from the bat of pacer Mohammad Abbas, who displayed resistance and scored 23 off 33 deliveries.