Coach Hesson says Pakistan players are more used to the 'chaos' than he is

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The Associated Press. (2026, September 4). Coach Hesson says Pakistan players are more used to the 'chaos' than he is. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/cricket/coach-hesson-says-pakistan-players-are-more-used-to-the-chaos-than-he-is/article_de58bf72-39ea-5f56-944a-f9d6bcad7bc0.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-09-04 · by The Associated Press

Quick Summary

Pakistan interim coach Mike Hesson says his players are more used to the "chaos" caused by recent changes than he is, after seven players were dropped from the team for a match against England. The changes, which included replacing test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed with Hesson and bringing in new bowling coach Ashley Nofke, have drawn criticism from former Pakistan cricketers Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik. According to Hesson, three players had already left the squad before he took over, including wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and opening batter Imam-ul-Haq. The team has been revamped with five uncapped players included in the squad, and Hesson aims to find variety in the attack and create opportunities for bowler Mohammed Abbas.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-04, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Mike Hesson, the interim red-ball cricket coach of Pakistan, has taken over as test coach for the third and final Test against England in Birmingham. The change is part of a major overhaul of the team by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which dropped 7 players from the squad and replaced them with new ones after two consecutive defeats at Lord's and Headingley. Hesson, who was already Pakistan's white-ball coach, said that his players are more used to "chaos" than he is, referring to the sudden changes and departures within the team. The PCB also appointed a new bowling coach, Ashley Nofke, and dropped test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed from the position. The third Test is scheduled to start on September 9 at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Written for “Pakistan Cricket Team Struggles” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Pakistan Cricket Team Struggles
Sports · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Dawn · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 16 📰 publisher trust 71
“Both articles describe the same incident (Pakistan Cricket Board dropping seven players for next week's dead rubber) at the same time and place (Birmingham), with similar quotes from Coach Hesson.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 9251 article(s) · 25 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 25 correction(s)
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

The Associated Press
1457 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by The Associated Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
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Topics

BIRMINGHAM England PCB Pakistan the Pakistan Cricket Board

Subjects

Hesson PERSON · 6× Pakistan GPE · 5× BIRMINGHAM GPE · 2× England GPE · 2× PCB ORG · 2× Salman Ali Agha PERSON · 2× Ashley Nofke PERSON · 1× Mike Hesson PERSON · 1× Sarfaraz Ahmed PERSON · 1× the Pakistan Cricket Board ORG · 1×

Narrative

The PCB not only summoned back seven players, it also replaced test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed with Hesson and brought in bowling coach Ashley Nofke to take over from Umar Gul. One of the four selectors Aaqib Javed and chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi have defended the changes midway through the series, which have drawn criticism from the likes of former Pakistan cricketers Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-04
🔮 Hesson, Pakistan’s white-ball head coach, was recently in Japan preparing for the Asian Games and was only due to come to UK for last Wednesday’s team audience with King Charles, but was told that he will be taking over for the third test, starting in Birmingham next Wednesday.
2026-09-04 · Toronto Star
Coach Hesson says Pakistan players are more used to the 'chaos' than he is · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 0 hedged)

Pakistan interim red-ball cricket coach Mike Hesson believes his players are more used to the “chaos” than him after the Pakistan Cricket Board dropped seven players for next week’s dead rubber against England. asserted
Board → believe → England
“The last couple of days have been challenging for being in a hotel with some players coming, some players going and then the arrival of everyone,” Hesson told reporters on Friday. asserted
Hesson → challenge → Friday
“The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am,” he said. asserted
he → say → chaos
“There’s no doubt they have been disappointed, incredibly disappointed. asserted
they → ’ → ?
We’ve had to park that and go ‘righto, where to from here?’ asserted
We → have → that
Pakistan made sweeping changes in a knee-jerk reaction to its two brutal defeats at Lord’s and Headingley in the first two tests of the three-match series. asserted
Pakistan → make → series
The PCB not only summoned back seven players, it also replaced test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed with Hesson and brought in bowling coach Ashley Nofke to take over from Umar Gul. One of the four selectors Aaqib Javed and chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi have defended the changes midway through the series, which have drawn criticism from the likes of former Pakistan cricketers Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik. asserted
which → summon → Afridi
Hesson, Pakistan’s white-ball head coach, was recently in Japan preparing for the Asian Games and was only due to come to UK for last Wednesday’s team audience with King Charles, but was told that he will be taking over for the third test, starting in Birmingham next Wednesday. asserted
he → prepare → Birmingham
Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, opening batter Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha, who captained the team in the first test, were among the first batch of the seven players who left the team before Hesson had joined the squad in the UK. asserted
Hesson → captain → UK
Fast bowler Khurram Shahzad and left-arm spinner Ali Usman both played in the first two tests before being released while all-rounder Aamir Jamal and Mohammad Awais were sent home without getting a chance at either Lord’s or at Headingley. asserted
Jamal → play → Headingley
“When I took over, three players had already left the squad, Rizwan, Imam and Salman Ali Agha,” Hesson said. asserted
Hesson → take → squad
“I don’t think anyone wants these to happen in the middle of a series, clearly not. asserted
these → think → series
“From my perspective, it’s about putting a balanced squad together, not only for this test, so we actually have some variety in our attack. asserted
we → ’ → attack
Pakistan is known for the pace, unusual actions, mystery spin — we haven’t really been able to present any of that.” asserted
we → know → that
The selectors have included five uncapped players — spin all-rounder Arafat Minhas, left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Imran Jr., wicketkeeper Saad Baig, all-rounder Mohammad Imran and fast bowler Razaullah. asserted
selectors → include → players
Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal are the other two being flown to the UK to join the squad and have a combined experience of only 10 test matches. asserted
Ayub → fly → matches
“From a bowling point of view, we have got to find some variety,” Hesson said. asserted
Hesson → get → variety
“We need a little bit of an X-Factor in there as well to try and create some opportunities … to support Mohammed Abbas who’s done incredibly well. asserted
who → need → Abbas
I know all the players that are here now. asserted
that → know → players
Some I’ve worked with a bit, some I’ve said hello to a handful of times and watched them play.” asserted
them → work → times
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