BRISBANE: Jason Gillespie said Monday he felt no longer wanted as Pakistan’s Test coach and was left out of major decisions, having quit the post last week.

The 49-year-old Australian former fast bowler was appointed in April for two years but differences with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took their toll.

Gillespie said he was not informed of the decision to remove performance coach Tim Nielsen, also an Australian.

“Nielsen was told his services were no longer required and I had zero communication from anyone and that was the moment I thought: well, I’m not really sure they actually want me to do this job,” Gillespie told Australian broadcaster ABC in Brisbane.

He added: “For a decision to then be made (about Nielsen) and the head coach doesn’t get a text message, phone call or email about a decision that’s a pretty big decision.

“It just left me thinking well I’m really not sure if the PCB wants me.”

The PCB accepted Gillespie’s resignation, the second in two months after former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten quit as white-ball coach over differences with selectors.

Gillespie had the worst possible start to his coaching stint when Pakistan were whitewashed 2-0 by Bangladesh.

That was followed by an innings defeat against England in the first Test in Multan.

The defeat prompted the PCB to make sweeping changes, removing Gillespie from the selection panel and dropping star players Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah.

Pakistan won the remaining two Tests to seal the series 2-1.

Gillespie refused to join the team for the two-Test series in South Africa starting in Centurion from December 26.

Gillespie said he was upset over the reduction of his role.

“In essence I was basically hitting catches and that was about it on the morning of a game,” he told ABC.

“You want to be able to have clear communication with all stakeholders, including selectors and knowing what the team is as head coach at least a day before the game so you can help plan and prepare the players.”

The exits of Gillespie and Kirsten means Pakistan have now had seven different coaches across formats in the last three years.

ISLAMABAD: A policeman was killed and two persons, including an anti-polio vaccinator, were injured in separate gun attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police said on Monday, as the South Asian country launched an anti-polio drive to reach 44 million children.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to provide children high immunity against this terrible disease.
The first attack took place in KP’s Karak district, when unidentified gunmen riding motorbikes opened fire on an anti-polio vaccination team, according to KP governor’s spokesman Tariq Habib. The deceased policeman, Mohammad Irfan, was guarding the vaccinators. The body and the injured vaccinator were shifted to hospital.
“A large contingent of police reached the spot and cordoned off the area and a search operation has been launched there,” Habib said in a statement.
In the Bannu district, Hayatullah Khan, a health official associated with polio program, was shot at by unidentified gunmen as soon as he left home for duty, local police officer Muhammad Ghulam said.
“Khan, who received injuries to his leg, is in stable condition,” Ghulam told Arab News. “Police are investigating whether the attack was carried out by militants as Khan has personal enmity too.”
Pakistan is responding to an intense resurgence of Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) this year, with 63 cases reported so far. Of these, 26 are from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the vaccination campaign, which will continue till Dec. 22. During the drive, polio vaccinators will go house to house in 143 districts to immunize children under the age of five years, according to the polio program.
“Polio is a dangerous disease which can cripple your children for life. In fact, it can be life-threatening,” Sharif said at the campaign launch. “Only two drops [of anti-polio vaccine] can save your children from being disabled forever. Come and let’s protect the future of our and the nation’s children.”
He said the federation and all provinces were jointly fighting this epidemic and God willing, they would eliminate the disease through their collective wisdom and efforts, thanking vaccinators for their efforts to eliminate the virus despite harsh weather and terrain in far-flung areas.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s chief health officer said on Nov. 10 an estimated 500,000 children had missed polio vaccination during the last countrywide inoculation drive.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized. This month, Pakistani authorities postponed a planned anti-polio vaccination campaign in the northwestern Kurram district, citing a fragile security situation after weeks of deadly sectarian clashes in the region.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that a lack of knowledge about vaccines, poverty and rural residency are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
Ayesha Raza Farooq, PM Sharif’s focal person on polio eradication, said on Sunday that all children up to the age of five must be given polio drops.
“Polio vaccine is completely safe, effective and provided absolutely free of cost,” she added.