Paul Nixon Shines in his first Coaching Assignment in Pakistan:
Pakistan’s first class cricket tournament, the Quaid e Azam trophy, has been uplifting the nation’s domestic circuit since 1953. The 2022 edition of the trophy is nearing its end as the final match between the teams Sindh and Northern is set to begin on 26th of November.
The Pakistan Cricket Board introduced foreign coaches for two of the teams, Sindh and Central Punjab, in the tournament this year. As told by the PCB Director High-Performance Nadeem Khan, the performances of foreign coaches are to be evaluated at the end of the season to understand how foreign coaches can be of benefit to the domestic set up of Pakistan. Although the season has not reached the end fully, the numbers and stats help us to state that foreign coaches especially those with the Sindh team have done an impressive job.
Paul Nixon was appointed as the head coach of the now finalist team, Sindh, before the tournament commenced. Nixon, who is serving as the head coach of Leicestershire County Club relinquished his role temporarily as a coach for the county and accepted the assignment to coach the team in the Quaid e Azam trophy. Talking about Sindh’s team, who has won the 2022-23 edition of National T20 Cup, the wicket-keeper batter said, “Pakistan is a wonderful place to play cricket and who wouldn’t want the opportunity of coming to Pakistan. I have seen the Sindh team play so well in the T20 of late. They’ve been outstanding, their balance of experience and youth is just incredible. They’ve got some exciting, international cricketers and seriously, good, talented youth coming through as well.For me seeing this side, it’s a very special team that could do special things and they can be serial winners. I really believe that they’ve got the ability to win consistently, in all formats.”
The Nixon-coached Sindh team ended at the second position on the table to book their berth in the final. It deserves a mention here that this assignment was the English cricketer-turned-coach’s first time in Pakistan as a coach which without a shadow of doubt has been a roaring success. Paul Nixon himself deems this opportunity of working with Sindh as something ‘very rare and valuable’. Before coming to Pakistan to link with the Sindh’s team, he reflected over the chance of landing the top coaching role for the domestic side in Pakistan, in the following words, “I’m excited to work alongside several Pakistan internationals and to look at future stars.I’m confident the experience will help me gain new knowledge in a top-class environment, which I can bring back to the Foxes.”
The exuberant coach, Paul Nixon, has worked with players like Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara and Shakib Al Hasan during his stint as a coach for Jamaica Tallawah in Caribbean Premier League. Not only that, the 52 year old has also coached the Jamaican team in the CPL to two titles in 3 years.
Before he donned the guise of a coach, Nixon served the English side as a wicketkeeper batsman. He had been a part of Leicestershire County, or as they like to term themselves; the foxes, for four decades as a player. He was signed as a coach for the same county in October 2017. Nixon appeared in 355 first-class matches and lifted the trophy for the foxes 5 times during his time with them as a player.
