{
  "id": 119558,
  "title": "PCB appoints South Africa's Michael Smith as batting coach for Pakistan men's cricket team",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/pcb-appoints-south-africas-michael-smith-as-batting-coach-for",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-04T07:20:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dawn",
    "slug": "dawn",
    "url": "https://www.dawn.com/news/2020529/pcb-appoints-south-africas-michael-smith-as-batting-coach-for-pakistan-mens-cricket-team"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the appointment of South African cricketer Michael Smith as the batting coach for the Pakistan men's cricket team, effective immediately. The 46-year-old, who has extensive experience across red-ball and white-ball formats, will be in charge of the team for the upcoming three-match Test series against England, starting on August 19. Smith boasts a remarkable career, having played 89 first-class, 72 List-A, and 16 T20 matches, scoring 7,029 runs, including nine centuries and 40 half-centuries. He has previously worked with various HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchises and the Hobart Hurricanes in Australia. Smith's appointment comes after interim batting coach Asad Shafiq was hired in April 2026 for the Bangladesh Test series, and before that, Shahid Aslam served as the white-ball batting coach from November 2024.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Moneyweb",
        "title": "South Africa wins Chinese backing for power-expansion plans",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/south-africa-wins-chinese-backing-for-power-expansion-plans",
        "published": "2026-08-04T12:13:08.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Rugby World",
        "title": "What is the Greatest Rivalry? Here is everything you need to know about the All Blacks tour to South Africa",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/what-is-the-greatest-rivalry-here-is-everything-you-need-to-know",
        "published": "2026-08-04T13:31:59.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}