LAHORE: Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson says that the ongoing white-ball camp in Lahore is focused on improving the players’ fitness, conditioning and skills for future international competitions.
The camp which started at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) on Monday, includes white-ball specialist players, emerging cricketers and players identified for future international commitments.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in order to stop the white-ball teams’ decline, especially in the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) events, decided to hold a long training camp in Lahore. Overall, 49 players of three formats of the game are attending the camp.
During the last 30 months of international cricket played under the current PCB regime, Pakistan’s overall victory ratio in all the three formats remained a dismal 38 per cent.
During this time, the national team produced pathetic performance in the 2024 and 2026 editions of the T20 World Cup.
As regards the ODI show, Pakistan flopped on home turf in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. Prior to the eight-nation showpiece, Pakistan at home were beaten by New Zealand in the final of a tri-series also involving South Africa.
“We started the white-ball camp two weeks ago here at the NCA featuring around 27 to 28 players. The first couple of weeks of the white-ball camp have mainly been about medical testing and fitness assessments, which allow us to get a baseline of where the players are at,” New Zealander Hesson said while talking exclusively to PCB Digital.
“We also have time to make some real improvements from a conditioning point of view. From next week, we will start working on the skills side alongside fitness.”
Talking about the timing of the camp and how the players can work on fitness and skills, Hesson said: “Most white-ball players, especially those involved in different formats, struggle to get a good block of training. A huge advantage for us is that we have almost three months where we can make some big gains from a conditioning point of view.
“Dr Javed Mughal has come in and set some high standards in terms of medical screening and conditioning. The players are finding it tough, which is no surprise. When you play for long periods, fitness levels can go down from a general conditioning and strength perspective.
“To withstand the demands of international cricket, players have to be incredibly fit and strong. We are working on both areas,” he added.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN
Hesson further said that every player at the camp has been given an individual performance plan to ensure focused development.
“We start every camp with individual meetings involving the player, the head coach, NCA staff, the conditioning and the medical teams. We are all working together to come up with an Individual Performance Plan (IPP) for every player,” the 51-year-old underlined.
“Over the next three weeks, every player will have clear focus points. These will include technical and tactical areas, as well as medical or conditioning areas that need work. We are working with purpose. We are not just turning up every day and hoping things work out.
“There is proper planning in place and everyone here at the NCA has a part to play.”
When asked to comment on the opportunity to work with emerging players and recent Pakistan U-19 cricketers, Hesson emphasised that giving the youngsters experience is crucial.
“It is exciting to work with a lot of the U-19 talent. I met with Samir Minhas and Farhan Yousuf and have also been involved with Ali Raza and Abdul Subhan over the last month or so. It is great to expose them to the levels they need to reach. We need to give them experience and challenge them so that when they get the opportunity to play for Pakistan,” the coach said.
While speaking about the squad preparing for this year’s Asian Games, Hesson said the camp provides an important opportunity to assess players and prepare them for future challenges.
Published in Dawn, June 26 , 2026