ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan pushed the panic button after heavy defeats in the two cricket tests in England by replacing seven players and two coaches on Monday.
Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were summoned home by the Pakistan Cricket Board to be replaced by white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke respectively for the third and final test in Birmingham starting on Sept. 9.
Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, injured opening batter Imam-ul-Haq, first test captain Salman Ali Agha, spinner Ali Usman and pacer Khurram Shahzad — who all played in the second test defeat at Lord’s on Sunday — were also returning home. Allrounder Aamir Jamal and batter Awais Zafar were going with them without getting a game in England.
Imam’s torn calf drew criticism in Pakistan media, especially from former chief selector Mohammad Wasim. Imam suffered the low grade injury in the field on the first day at Lord’s and didn’t play in the rest of the match.
However, after Wasim’s criticism, Imam appeared in the outfield on Sunday before the fourth day’s play but was visibly limping as he shadow-batted with his left calf heavily strapped.
Rizwan’s overambitious shot selections against England, including his attempted slog against Ollie Robinson on Sunday that trapped him lbw, led to his axing.
Pakistan’s dismal run in red-ball cricket continued during Ahmed’s short tenure of around three months as the team lost five of its six away matches — two in Bangladesh, one in the West Indies and two in England.
Babar Azam’s second stint as test captain also couldn’t turn around the test results after Pakistan sacked Shan Masood in May. Babar drew with the West Indies 1-1 but England has an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Pakistan has lost 10 of its last 11 away tests.
A finger injury ruled out Babar from the first test in Leeds and Agha led the side but he was dropped for the second test.
Pakistan has yet to cross the 200-run mark in four innings of the series, losing by an innings and 103 runs in Leeds and by 194 run at Lord’s.
The selectors recalled opening batter Saim Ayub, who has played eight tests, and Abdullah Fazal, who was pulled out of the England tour when he was injured in the West Indies.
The five uncapped players traveling to England included spin allrounder Arafat Minhas, fast bowler Mohammad Imran Jr., wicketkeeper Saad Baig, and fast bowling allrounders Mohammad Imran and Razaullah.
See AP’s full cricket coverage here
England's Jofra Archer, second left, celebrates taking the wicket of Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq on day three of the first Test match between England and Pakistan in Leeds, England, Friday Aug. 21, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)
Pakistan's Khurram Shahzad bowls a delivery on day two of the second cricket test match between England and Pakistan in London, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan is out lbw on the bowling of England's Ollie Robinson, right, on day two of the second cricket test match between England and Pakistan in London, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates said that it intercepted an Iranian drone over its waters Monday, an attack that comes after the United States and Iran exchanged fire over the weekend for the first time in a month.
Iranian officials said that two people were killed and several others wounded in the U.S. attack Sunday night on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted.
During the lull in fighting, the U.S. has been ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran with the hope of forcing concessions out of Tehran, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Iran established a chokehold on the vital strait, though which a fifth of the world's traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle. That has roiled the global economy, raising prices worldwide for energy and other goods.
As the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $90, up about 25% from the start of the war, presenting a growing problem for U.S. President Donald Trump before the midterm elections.
A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted U.S. military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.
In the wake of the renewed violence, Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, said on social media said “the state of neither war nor peace cannot be a sustainable solution."
He called for a political solution that would return normal navigation to the Strait of Hormuz, but also a “more realistic approach” than the June memo of understanding between Iran and the U.S. which, he said, “failed to outline a practical and acceptable" road map.
In a short statement earlier, the UAE Defense Ministry said that it “dealt with” an Iranian drone that was detected over its waters approaching from Iran. There were no reports of damage.
“This dangerous escalation constitutes a blatant violation of the UAE’s sovereignty, security, and stability, and a direct threat to the safety of its citizens and residents,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Defense Ministry later issued a second statement denying a claim by the Iranian army that the Al Minhad Air Base in Dubai had been targeted, saying it was false.
In the wake of the U.S. attack on Sunday, Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that Iran would “not hesitate to exercise the inherent right of legitimate defense and will respond decisively to any military aggression.”
Before heading to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's summit in Kyrgyzstan with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has favored a negotiated end to the conflict, stressed that Iran wasn't seeking war.
“But,” he said, “we will respond decisively to aggressors.”
The summit brings together a group billed as a counterweight to U.S. global influence, and includes Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pezeshkian was scheduled to meet with Putin on the sidelines on Tuesday.
Meantime, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was set to host meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers in North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday, which come as Washington pressures other countries to help the U.S. economically isolate Iran.
The shifting strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct business with Tehran.
Two weeks ago, the UAE suspended all trade with Iran after saying it had come under renewed fire from Iran with two missiles fired at shipping traffic splashing down harmlessly in the Persian Gulf. Iran denied the attack.
Bessent later suggested it was pressure from Washington that led to the UAE decision.
Trump stressed last week that he is “not in a hurry” to get Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues making the case that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is on the ropes.
Appointments to Iran’s senior security leadership in the past month, however, have signaled Tehran’s defiance after weathering decades of sanctions as well as a lack of tolerance for dissent at home.
On Sunday, U.S. Central Command said it had struck Iranian launchers after observing forces with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said last week that it had completed clearing sea mines from the waterway’s international shipping routes.
U.S. military officials disputed Iran’s claim that the latest American strikes were an act of aggression, calling them a “limited, precise action” against what they said were minelaying forces.
Iranian state television later showed what it said were ballistic missiles being fired at American bases in Jordan, and Jordan’s military said that it intercepted eight that had entered its airspace.
The last time the U.S. military confirmed targeting Iran was on July 29, when it announced a “heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets including coastal surveillance and defense sites.
Vehicles pass a billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump inside a catering container alongside a magician and the words "No tricks! Blink, you're gone," in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles pass a banner showing a portrait of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People spend time at a beach as commercial vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
A boy walks on shallow water as commercial vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)
FILE - A small boat sails past cargo ships and other commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP, File)
