LONDON: Pakistan men’s cricket team held their first practice session ahead of the three-match Test series against England at Kent County Cricket Club in Beckenham on Monday.
The newly appointed batting coach, Michael Smith, also joined the team. Smith held a meeting with players before overseeing the batting session.
Smith has previously worked as a batting coach in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with Islamabad United. He also remained Multan Sultans’ assistant coach.
The PCB officially announced the appointment on July 4. There had been no designated batting coach for either the red or white-ball teams before Smith’s appointment. Asad Shafiq, a national selector, occasionally operated in that capacity, but Smith will now take over fully.
The Test squad fine tuned their skills by taking part in physical drills and fielding exercises.
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Pakistan will continue training at the venue untill 12:30 pm on Tuesday before playing a four-day warm-up fixture against PCC Select XI, staring on 12 August.
The series is part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.
The opening match of the series will be played at Headingley from August 19 to 23, followed by the second fixture at the iconic Lord’s from August 27 to 31. The third and final Test will be held at Edgbaston in Birmingham from September 9 to 13.
Pakistan enter the series after drawing their two-Test series against the West Indies 1-1. The result included Pakistan’s first away Test victory since July 2023.
Pakistan squad
Babar Azam (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Muhammad Awais Zafar, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.
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