PCB appoint Grant Bradburn as new head coach of Pakistan men's cricket team

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Saturday, announced the appointment of former New Zealand cricketer Grant Bradburn as the new head coach of the men's team. Bradburn recently served as the interim head coach of the Pakistan team on a consultancy basis during the home series against New Zealand.

PCB, who earlier had named former South African coach, Mickey Arthur as the team director, have announced the signing of fellow Protean Andrew Puttick as the new batting coach on a two-year contract. While the strength and conditioning coach, Drikus Saaiman and physiotherapist, Cliffe Deacon, will continue in their roles, a PCB press release said.

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Under Bradburn, Pakistan fared well against the Kiwis – winning the ODIs 4-1 and drawing the T20I series 2-2. Babar Azam-led side also claimed the number one ranking in ODIs for the first time during that period only.

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Meanwhile, Bradburn has been associated with the Pakistan Men’s Team since 2018, when he served as the fielding coach till 2020. Later, he joined the National Cricket Academy to work on the coaches’ development. Besides, Bradburn had also coached Scotland in the past.

"I am delighted to name Grant Bradburn as the head coach of our men's side. Bradburn joins the side with a plethora of coaching experience. After having worked with our men's side before and at the National Cricket Academy, he understands our culture and philosophy of cricket well and is an ideal candidate to take our team forward," PCB chief Najam Sethi said on his appointment, as quoted in Cricbuzz.

"After the announcement of Mickey Arthur as team director, Bradburn's appointment is another step in our endeavours of putting together a highly qualified coaching panel so our players can benefit from their experiences and dominate world cricket in all three formats," Sethi added.

Upon getting picked as the new boss, Bradburn said he's looking forward to working with such a talented group of players, and knowing their culture from close quarters would help him get the team to be better in all aspects moving forward.

"It is a great honour for me to work with the highly talented and skilful side like Pakistan as a head coach. We have been working hard on raising our game and are eager to showcase our growing skills. Mickey Arthur and I are excited to support, challenge and develop our players. The New Zealand series has been valuable to get game time and create clarity of roles, culture and brand to win,” Bradburn said.

Pakistan’s next white-ball assignment is a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and the 2023 Asia Cup – whose future stays in limbo.