Jason Gillespie, Pakistan’s red-ball coach, has described his role as “matchday strategist”, acknowledging his reduced remit since a reorganisation one game into the series against England stripped him of his influence over team selection.
Defeat by an innings and 47 runs prompted the Pakistan Cricket Board to change its approach to the Test side. It abandoned a brief dalliance with focusing on and creating conditions that reward seam bowling – even though that seemed to be a key factor behind the appointment of Gillespie less than six months ago – and transformed the method of selection, dropping the side’s two best fast bowlers and filling the team with spinners. The board then decided to play the second Test on a used pitch as dry and worn as possible to help the hosts succeed. They won that game by 152 runs.
