Mark Coles, Pakistan Women’s head coach resigns:
Pakistan Women’s head coach, Mark Coles has resigned from his position because of family commitments. Coles’ resignation came just five months before the start of the Women’s T20 World Cup. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has handed over the control of the team to the team’s batting coach, Iqbal Imam. Iqbal Imam’s first task as Pakistan Women’s head coach will be the home series against Bangladesh starting from the 26th of October to November 4th in Lahore.
Mark Coles said that it is with a heavy heart that he has decided to step down from his coaching role, something which he had enjoyed a lot. Mark Coles explained that the reason is that his family responsibilities require his undivided attention and focus.
Coles said that he has been thinking about it for some time and taking into account that Pakistan has some critical assignments in the next few months, he thought it was fair to convey his decision to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) so that they have enough time to find his replacement for the team.
Mark Coles was appointed as Pakistan Women’s head coach in 2017 right ahead of their series against New Zealand in the UAE, as a part of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s efforts to make Pakistan Women’s cricket more professional. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had just been bringing coaches on a series-by-series basis before that.
Mark Coles was appointed on a trial basis by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and helped Pakistan women to win 9 out of 28 ODIs, which also included their first-ever series victory over West Indies in 2019, and 12 wins out of 30 T20Is.
Pakistan Women are currently fifth in the ICC Women’s Championship and have a very good chance of qualifying directly for the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2021.
Mark Coles’ achievements:
Mark Coles was appointed on a trial basis by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and helped Pakistan women to win 9 out of 28 ODIs, which also included their first-ever series victory over West Indies in 2019, and 12 wins out of 30 T20Is.
Pakistan Women are currently fifth in the ICC Women’s Championship and have a very good chance of qualifying directly for the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2021.
During Mark Coles’ time, Sana Mir of Pakistan became one of the best ODI spinners of the world while Nida Dar became the first-ever Pakistani woman to earn a contract in a foreign league.
Mark Coles is from New Zealand with the experience of just playing six List A games, but his performance has been very good as the manager of women’s teams of Wellington and Western Australia. Coles also won a domestic T20 title with Wellington Blaze in 2013. Ever since his appointment as Pakistan’s head coach, Mark Coles had been living in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. Coles was very confident that the players he had coached for the past two years would have success going forward in the future.
Coles said that he had thoroughly enjoyed his stay in Lahore and working with Pakistan Women’s team as well as all those who are associated with women’s cricket. Coles expressed that it had been pleasing to see some of the girls grow in stature and make their team and country proud. He also said that he will miss working with all these girls and will always remain their supporter and well-wisher in the future and that he had no doubts that the Pakistan national women’s team will continue to make upward progress ahead.
As of now, every women’s cricket team in the world is working towards the T20 World Cup, which will be held in Australia in February in 2020. Pakistan Women’s performance had been nothing but underwhelming in the last T20 World Cup, as they won only one out of the four games they played in the tournament. Pakistan Women are looking good and determined this time as they head into the T20Is against Bangladesh and England in preparations towards the T20 World Cup next year.
