Mark Coles becomes Scotland's first-ever full-time women's coach

Edinburgh [Scotland], March 1 (ANI): Scotland Cricket has appointed Mark Coles as the first full-time head coach of the national women's team. The New Zealander, who succeeds Steve Knox, will arrive with an impressive pedigree which includes two years at the helm in Pakistan.
"I'm extremely excited," Coles was quoted as saying by Scotland Cricket's official website. "I'm very humbled and privileged to be given this opportunity.
"I'll obviously be doing a lot of listening and observing for the first little while to get an understanding of what's required and the expectations of the players, and then [we'll look to] build something around that. I'm just looking forward to getting to Scotland and getting stuck in," he added.
After high-performance roles with Western Australia, Wellington and Northern Districts -- coaching a Wellington Blaze team that included then-Scotland international Leigh Kasperek to the New Zealand Women's T20 title in 2013 -- Coles was given leave from Waikato Valley to join Pakistan in September 2017.
An initial engagement for a single series turned into an extended stay in which he oversaw a dramatic improvement in the culture and fortunes of the Pakistan team that had been left in disarray after its winless campaign at the 2017 Women's World Cup.
Coles' first priority will be to help the Scottish women prepare for several important tournaments this year -- first, hosting the ICC T20 World Cup Europe qualifiers in August, as well as being likely starters in the eventual qualifying tournament for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
"Scotland has produced some absolutely amazing cricketers over the years, and there's no reason at all why we shouldn't be playing in the T20 World Cup on a regular basis," said Coles. (ANI)