Jason Gillespie was sacked as Pakistan selector and replaced by a referee.

That emotion not only resulted in the dismissal of Gillespie and Masood as selectors, but also the elevation of former fast bowler Aaqib Javed and, bizarrely, recently retired umpire Aleem Dar as selector. They played the second Test in Multan on a used pitch and then used industrial fans and heaters to dry out the pitch for the final match in Rawalpindi. Extreme measures.

The circuit board came out and made some changes after that test match, Gillespie said during the series. It wasn't what I signed up for, I'll be completely honest. But this is one of those situations where you just have to go with the flow.

Pakistan have had 26 different selectors since 2021 and three different squads have been named since Gillespie started in July. The entire matter was viewed grimly by former Pakistan captain and former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja.

I don't know if a referee is a selector, so the jury is still out, Ramiz said. You can't run cricket from the sidelines. The leader must be made responsible and the only way to make him responsible is to give him certain powers.

What you need to do is make sure that as soon as you engage and involve someone, you need to give them clarity about the role. It's not great news [Kirstens departure] because Pakistan needed an experienced hand.

On the other side of the chaos is of course the quality of the playing shares. Pakistan dropped Babar Azam against England and still won. Ahead of the ODI and Twenty20 matches starting on Monday against Australia at the MCG, a young squad is packed with talent. Their biggest challenge is staying calm amid the noise.

We feel like we've had an impact on the group, and on the whole group [Test] Captain Shan, a very nice man and a good, strong leader, and he communicates well, Nielsen said. He also made sure to maintain some composure when those roster choices were made.

I hope that the one thing that has given them, and that Dizzy is really good at, is a calm and relaxed environment in the changing rooms, where players can feel comfortable and not look over their shoulders.

It was to his and Dizz's credit that we stayed calm and kept our eye on the ball.

For Gillespie and Nielsen, the coming weeks will be a matter of keeping one eye on the ball and the other on their phone.

McDonald gets the contract extension that CA denies Justin Langer

Pat Cummins and Andrew McDonald will lead Australia into the national teams next mega year in 2027 after the head coach reached an agreement with Cricket Australia to extend his tenure until the end of that year.

McDonald's decision also means that he and Cummins have taken responsibility for managing the transition of an aging team with younger blood such as Sam Konstas and Nathan McSweeney in the coming years. Cummins and McDonald agreed to the contract extension last week.

Speaking to this masthead, Cummins had previously indicated he was open to leading the team in Test matches and major white-ball tournaments until 2027, with Test tours of India and England plus the next 50-over World Cup.

But he wanted McDonald alongside him to continue their successful coaching and captaincy tandem, which started with a drought-winning series in Pakistan in 2022.

McDonald, in turn, wanted to ensure he had a strong support team around him, with assistant coaches such as Michael Di Venuto, Dan Vettori and Andre Borovec set to end their contracts at the end of this season.

McDonald became head coach after a drawn-out saga surrounding the departure of Justin Langer, who resigned after being offered a short contract extension of six months, instead of the two years his predecessor now has.

Andrew has proven to be an outstanding men's head coach who has not only delivered exceptional results but also built a strong coaching team, methodology and an excellent environment for the team to perform at their best, said CA chief executive Nick Hockley. We are pleased to extend his term of office for another two years.

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For McDonald, the contract extension underlines his impact in creating a calm and measured environment around the Australian team, which has demonstrated the ability to withstand the pressure on the road and lift major trophies. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy, held by India since 2017, is the only major wreath the team has not lifted since joining the set-up as Langer's assistant in 2019.

“I am very fortunate to have an exceptional group of leaders, players, coaches and staff who are fully invested in the continued well-being, success and development of this group,” said McDonald. The professionalism, commitment and experience of my fellow coaches and the wider staff have ensured that the journey has been extremely successful, but just as importantly has created a culture of unity, trust and inclusivity.

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Cummins, who took over the captaincy following the forced resignation of Tim Paine in 2021, now believes he can continue in the role for longer than initially thought.

“I feel like I can accomplish a lot more than what I did back then just by getting better at it and having some great people around me to help me,” he said. It feels like a pretty good running machine at the moment, with the coaches, staff and all the players getting to work [I] I don't have to be as hands-on as I was when I first came in.

I'm not going to do it forever, but I wouldn't say it's imminent that I'm leaving. With Ronnie [McDonald] and the technical staff, we want to keep it together, because that makes my job a bit easier.