Kevin Pietersen appointed England white-ball mentor amid Pakistan coaching turmoil

For most of the time since his retirement as a player Kevin Pietersen has worked as a pundit and commentator, encouraged to be outspoken, hold strong opinions and state them powerfully. After his surprise appointment as a specialist mentor to the England men’s white-ball teams he will have to tread a bit more carefully.

He will bring positivity, as all great players initially do because of their stature within the game, but the fact that he was a great player lasts only so long, and then it’s about the words he uses and his ability to tailor his messaging.

He has not done a lot of coaching, but I have seen masterclasses on Sky that demonstrate how much hard work he put in across his career to reach the heights he did, showing strong technical understanding, and excellent communication. His credentials speak for themselves, as a world-class player with huge reserves of experience to draw on, and someone who has stayed in touch with the game. He’s got this chance on merit.

But as a personality he can divide opinion: some have always sung his praises, while others might not enjoy his company so much. Normally when a consultant is brought in it’s for one tour, to see how things go. Pietersen is due to be involved with England until the end of next year. It is a big commitment, both from the England and Wales Cricket Board and from Pietersen, and also a bit of a risk.

He has been quite outspoken in his criticism of Brendon McCullum’s approach to Test cricket in particular, and it might be a clever move to take a critic out of the commentary box and turn him into an ally, but I’m sure his message as a dominant player will be to encourage the batters to take a similar approach, which would probably echo McCullum’s advice. The challenge of coaching as a former player is to adapt your message to each individual. You’ve had your career, now your job is to help people to make the most of theirs, not to tell them what you would have done. Language is so powerful to players, and Pietersen will need to show a mastery of nuance that he might be unused to.

Pakistan’s latest coaching appointments are, I think it’s fair to say, less encouraging. In fact if you want a demonstration of how not to manage an international cricket team, or for that matter any sports team, just take a look at this Pakistan set-up. In their latest brainwave they sacked their head coach and sent seven players home while calling up largely inexperienced replacements before the final Test this week. To me it smacks of administrators wanting to be seen to be proactive. Is it going to help? I can’t see it. But I’m not convinced that’s even their intention.

Sarfaraz Ahmed, the outgoing head coach, and the bowling coach Umar Gul, who was also sacked, are two former cricketers with a lot of experience – 469 international appearances between them across the three formats – who know what the players are going through. They did not have a lot of coaching experience – Sarfaraz was appointed in April, a month after he announced the end of his international playing career – but they were appointed for a reason, and they have not suddenly lost the ability to support players.

Mike Hesson, who has been Pakistan’s white-ball coach since last year and someone I’ve heard good things about, has come in and perhaps he should have been given the job in the first place, with the others working around him and learning off him, creating a unit that combined the calmness and experience of Hesson with the knowledge and respect of Sarfaraz and Gul.

I can only imagine what the experience of being sent home mid-tour does to a player’s confidence. Irrespective of their performances, and I’m sure they will be bitterly disappointed with their lack of success, I’m sad for those players as individuals. This has been a very public humiliation for them. I wonder how this will affect the psyche of all Pakistani players who dream of representing their country. If this is the way national teams treat their best players, it will only accelerate the exodus of talent to franchise tournaments. Their replacements face a real challenge: the forecast for Birmingham this week is excellent but it’ll be cloudy and against a very good bowling attack. On potentially another juicy pitch this will not be an easy task. The Pakistan Cricket Board does not deserve its gamble to succeed.

It was refreshing after the second Test to hear talk from the England camp of ruthlessness, a word Ben Stokes famously hated. They are facing weak opponents who appear to have made themselves weaker, and they should be determined to make it 3-0, smelling blood. There are runs and wickets to be had. For all that Pakistan are in disarray, England have played good, sensible, grown‑up cricket and it has been a pleasure to see it.

I was at Lord’s for every day of the second Test and England’s use of the conditions was outstanding. Ollie Robinson was almost unplayable, and the four seamers complement each other really well: the skill and accuracy of Robinson, the pace of Jofra Archer, the angle of Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson’s ability to swing the ball and make things happen is a thrilling combination.

We have to keep a sense of proportion, because this is not the strongest batting lineup in world cricket, but I am excited for the future and intrigued to find out how they fare over the winter on the slower surfaces of Bangladesh, and with a Kookaburra ball in South Africa that can do a bit early on but after that tends to favour the batter. It’s one thing rolling through Pakistan at an overcast Lord’s and another to toil all day in the heat. But there is every reason to confidently believe that this quartet would be a handful in English conditions against any opponents, hopefully including in the Ashes next summer.