Former Australian bowler and Pakistan coach gave his first interview a week after resigning, talks about the challenges he faced that led to the decision.
In his first interview after stepping down as the Test coach of Pakistan, Jason Gillespie said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not want him as a coach. He cited a lack of communication with the board and the sacking of high-performance coach Tim Nielsen as the reasons for his resignation
The former Pakistan men’s Test cricket team head coach Jason Gillespie, on Monday, said that he stepped down from his role after being frustrated with the PCB’s handling of his position.
“There were certainly challenges. I went into the job eyes wide open, I want to make that really clear. I knew that, you know, Pakistan had cycled through a number of coaches in a pretty short space of time. The straw that broke the camel’s back, I suppose, was, as a head coach, you like to have clear communication with your employer,” Gillespie said.
“I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach,” he added.
The former Australian pacer said that the board did not review Tim Nielsen’s contract after he was brought on as the high-performance coach of the team upon Gillespie’s recommendation.
“Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that. And I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was probably the moment where I thought, ‘Well, I’m not really sure if they actually want me to do this job or not,” he said.
“I was completely and utterly blindsided by a decision to not have a high-performance coach,” he added.
The former Australian pacer said that the board did not review Tim Nielsen’s contract after he was brought on as the high-performance coach of the team upon Gillespie’s recommendation.
“Tim Nielsen was told that his services were no longer required and I had absolutely zero communication from anyone about that. And I just thought after a number of other things that had gone on in the previous few months, that was probably the moment where I thought, ‘Well, I’m not really sure if they actually want me to do this job or not,” he said.
Adding to Gillespie’s frustration was the fact that the feedback given to him regarding Nielsen and the team’s performance was positive.
“I developed a really close relationship with the Test captain, Shan Masood, and felt we were certainly going in the right direction and things were going really well,” he said.
“All the feedback that I’d got or the feedback the PCB got was just how effective, you know, Tim had been in his role as well and the players were getting a lot out of him.” Gillespie guided Pakistan to a 2-1 win against England in October, after losing the first match by an innings and 47 runs.
However, Gillespie said that after losing the first Test, he was informed that a new selection panel would be introduced, and he would not be a part of it. He added that he felt his role as head coach was diminished and even suggested that he often didn’t know the team lineup until the day before a match.