Sports
Momentum Under Mike Hesson | The Express Tribune
The 51-year-old understands how to operate in Pakistan’s politically-charged cricket environment
Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson speaks to the media in Dubai. PHOTO: AFP
When Mike Hesson signed up for the Pakistan coaching gig, the country was in the midst of aerial combat with its nuclear-armed neighbour.
Additionally, none of his prior coaching appointments would have had a cricket board chief who is also the country’s interior minister.
Now six months into a 2-year contract, Hesson seems to have navigated the opening spell on a difficult pitch.
The 51-year-old understands how to operate in Pakistan’s politically-charged cricketing environment, having coached Islamabad United.
In press conferences and interviews, he demonstrated confidence in a PCB, which, even at the best of times, is under severe scrutiny from its fans.
The Pakistan coaching job not just entails managing a cricket team, but also the egos of its administrators.
Hesson’s predecessors would have asked him to stay far away from the PCB.
World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten, who was reported to have signed a 2-year contract, resigned after six months.
Similarly, his replacement, Jason Gillespie, had a bitter pay dispute with the Board.
This was the backdrop under which the Kiwi signed up for the job.
Then came the Asia Cup and with it a unique crisis. Anyone, from a player to an administrator, would have been at a loss on how to handle an opposing side on a cricket field that would play a match, but refuse to shake hands after. Images then emerged of Hesson going with Salman Ali Agha to the Indian dressing room to convince them to put up a good show of sportsmanship.
Being involved in diplomatic overtures would have come under “other duties as assigned” on the job description, and Hesson could have very well declined to intervene. Yet he did, and it is showing the Kiwi as someone who is in tune with the kind of character a Pakistani dressing room, its administration, and the country can get behind.
Figuring out Pakistan cricket
In one of his first pressers for the national team, he agreed with the decision not to include Babar Azam, even giving a plan for what the world’s leading run-scorer in T20Is needed to do to get back in the side. Just a month into dropping Babar, the Sydney Sixers made him one of the most expensive players in the history of the Big Bash League (BBL). This could not have given much confidence in axing a player so highly revered.
Yet he stuck to it, and nearly seven months into the job, Hesson has now coached Pakistan in 24 T20Is, where his record so far has been 16 wins, for a win rate of 66%. Though these wins have come against weaker competition, including Bangladesh, West Indies, and a depleted South African side, they’ve come at a time when several questions were being raised about the side. Before these wins, Pakistan had lost series against New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and England.
Meanwhile, in the recently concluded Asia Cup, even just a solitary win in what turned out to be a three-match T20I series against India in the tournament would have bolstered team confidence.
Road to the World T20
Hesson’s captain, Salman Ali Agha, has been found wanting in form, and one would argue that if he wasn’t leading the side, he could be replaced by someone else.
At the same time, however, his field placements and bowling changes in the Lahore swing of the tour were a key reason why South African wickets kept falling.
Pakistan is presently only scheduled to play a T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in November, both teams ranked below Pakistan. Even the Afghanistan team that pulled out is ranked below the hosts. There is also presently no domestic T20 tournament scheduled before the 2026 World T20 tournament begins on February 7.
One hopes that the PCB is planning to bring stronger teams to Pakistan or propose a series in Sri Lanka in the lead-up to the tournament. Competition against teams ranked higher up will be the only litmus test that avoids “shock” embarrassment as the global event takes place.
The World T20 is going to be another politically charged event, given that the team is going to only play matches in Sri Lanka, while the rest of the teams also play across India. Hesson might soon have to manage another realpolitik.
SYDNEY: As Twenty20 cricket competitions explode around the world, Australia’s Big Bash League is struggling to chart a vision for the future, after plans to privatise its franchises stalled.
Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg is adamant that outside investment is necessary to shore up the game’s financial future and keep pace with a boom in other well-funded leagues played in a similar time slot.
They include the UAE’s ILT20, South Africa’s SA20, and New Zealand’s privately-backed NZ20 scheduled to start in December 2027, all bidding for the best local and overseas players.
“If those salary caps (of other leagues) are significantly higher than ours over the coming years, and players can earn more in those areas, then players will follow those. That’s a real risk to us,” Greenberg told local media.
“I want to make sure that for Australian cricket, our ambition is to have a league that runs at the key part of the year for us, which is the December-January window, and it’s the best T20 league in the world at that moment in time.
“To do that, we have to have a significant amount of money in our salary caps to attract not only the best players from overseas, but to retain and attract our own best players.”
He added: “The concept of bringing private capital to cricket is inevitable at some point.”
While not a direct competitor as it runs in a different window, the benchmark Indian Premier League has seen massive success thanks to wealthy benefactors, with England’s The Hundred also on a roll after an influx of private capital.
But it is a thorny issue in Australia with an initial proposal to sell stakes in each of BBL’s eight teams stalling last month amid concerns about a loss of control for the game’s local custodians.
While the Victorian, Western Australian and Tasmanian cricket associations voiced support and South Australia said it was open to the idea, New South Wales and Queensland rejected the move.
Queensland Cricket, which controls the Brisbane Heat, said it was worried about player payments skyrocketing to unsustainable levels, and that private owners may not be as invested in the grassroots game.
Cricket NSW, which operates the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder, was similarly concerned that it could be detrimental to how the sport is governed and how local players are produced.
‘Sugar hit’
There are also fears about an Indian takeover, with the most likely buyers seen as the rich IPL team owners who have invested in other short-form competitions around the globe.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell is in the “No” camp, arguing that the BBL belongs to the states and communities that have built it into a successful and well-attended product.
While acknowledging the commercial realities, he said selling it off was not the answer.
“The moment you introduce private ownership at scale, you introduce a set of priorities that may not always align with the long-term health of the game,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Private investors, however well-intentioned, answer to shareholders, not to Australian cricket.”
Andrew Jones, a former head of strategy at Cricket Australia who was instrumental in the launch of the BBL, is similarly unconvinced.
“A one-off sale is a sugar hit, not a solution,” he said in The Australian newspaper, arguing that revenues can be better grown through sponsorships, wagering, ticketing, and more focus on commercialising the women’s game.
Despite scepticism, Greenberg remains confident and is now eyeing a hybrid ownership model.
This would allow the BBL franchises keen to sell stakes to do so while allowing those against to maintain complete ownership.
“If we end up not going together at the same time, can we still extract the same level of revenue, and can we extract the same level of value?” he said.
“I think we can, but I’ve got to do the work to satisfy a recommendation that would ultimately go to the members and our board.”
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The New York Knicks took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday as the franchise eyes its first NBA Finals berth since 1999.
Jalen Brunson scored 30 points to lead New York to a 121-108 win over Cleveland, while Mikal Bridges added 22 as the Knicks never trailed in Game 3.
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The New York Knicks bench reacts during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three of the Eastern Conference finals at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (David Richard/Imagn Images)
New York is the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight during a postseason run. The last team to do it was the Boston Celtics, who also went on a 10-game run on their way to the 2024 title.
All but one of the Knicks’ wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points in 38 minutes, while teammate James Harden added 21. Cleveland shot 12 of 41 from 3-point range and 12 of 19 from the foul line.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives to the basket against New York Knicks guard Landry Shamet (44) during the first quarter in Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Rocket Arena on May 23, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Cleveland rallied and tied it at 50-all on a jumper by Harden before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run. They went into halftime with a 60-54 advantage.
Music superstar Taylor Swift was courtside for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night alongside fiancé and Ohio native Travis Kelce.
Swift and Kelce, who recently signed a three-year, $54 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, took their seats in Rocket Arena shortly before the opening tip.
Singer Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce attend Game Three of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 23, 2026. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
With the Cavs trailing 91-82 at the end of the third quarter, Kelce and Swift were shown on the arena’s giant scoreboard. Fans cheered wildly as Kelce showed off his team cap and wine-and-gold shirt.
Game 4 is set for Monday night at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. The series will return to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on Wednesday, if necessary.
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Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs will host the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 on Sunday night. Oklahoma City enters the matchup with a 2-1 series lead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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NASCAR’s Truck Series and O’Reilly Autoparts Series honor Kyle Busch with moments of silence at Charlotte
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The NASCAR world is paying tribute to Kyle Busch this weekend, and that includes some classy ones from two series in which the late driver had a lot of success.
While Busch — who passed away Thursday after “severe pneumonia [that] progressed into sepsis” — had been a full-time driver in NASCAR’s top series, the Cup Series, for more than 20 years, he still competed occasionally in both the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series.
He was especially known for his dominance in the Truck Series, winning 69 of his 184 races, and at one point owned a team. In fact, the final win of Busch’s career came just under a week before his death in a Truck Series race at Dover.
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Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, is introduced before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 1, 2026. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
On Friday, the Truck Series was in Charlotte as part of the Coca-Cola 600 weekend for a race that Busch was supposed to take part in.
NASCAR, RACING WORLD REACTS TO KYLE BUSCH’S SHOCKING DEATH AT 41: ‘CANNOT COMPREHEND THIS NEWS’
Corey Day was in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, the truck in which Busch took his final win, and it was set to start on pole after Friday’s qualifying was rained out.
Kyle Busch celebrates the final win of his NASCAR career at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire)
Before the race was set to begin on Friday evening, teams and fans held a moment of silence for Busch.
Unfortunately, the race never got underway and was postponed until Saturday morning and then again to Saturday night.
The O’Reilly Autoparts Series, which Busch raced in many times and won many times during his career, also took a moment to remember him before their race at Charlotte on Saturday.
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That race was also suspended due to rain.
There will be some heavy hearts on Sunday when the Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race of the year, gets started at 6 p.m. ET.
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