Former Australian women’s team coach Matthew Mott has been named as the new head coach for England men’s white-ball team.
The England and Wales Cricket Board on Wednesday announced that the Australian has signed a four-year contract and is set to take charge starting with England’s three-match ODI series against The Netherlands in Amsterdam next month. ”
Head Coach of England men’s White-ball Team
In accepting the role, Mott underlined the “deep connections” he has with the UK, where he had “spent considerable time both as a player and coach” and where some of his closest friends live.
“It was always going to take something special to leave the role that I have loved for the past seven years with the Australian Women’s team,” the 48-year-old said.
“However, I genuinely believe that the time is right to play a role in helping the England Men’s ODI and T20 group continue to evolve as one of the best teams in the world.”
After his appointment last week McCullum said he had not been interested in the white-ball role because the team, currently ranked second in both 20- and 50-over formats, has been too successful since Eoin Morgan’s appointment as captain in 2015.
“The white ball didn’t interest me because the team is flying, they’re one of the best teams in the world,” he said.
“I wasn’t really interested in a cushy kind of gig.” But Morgan will be almost 40 by the end of Mott’s contract and Rob Key, the managing director of England’s men’s cricket, said that the Australian would “be able to oversee any transition that the team will go through in the future”.
“I am fully aware that this team has been functioning well,” Mott said, “and part of my initial plan is to work with the playing group and support staff on how we can firstly maintain, then enhance, the success they have started to build over the past few years.”
The appointment, with Mott unanimously favored by a selection panel of Key, the ECB’s outgoing CEO Tom Harrison, the strategic advisor, Andrew Strauss, and performance director Mo Bobat, means that both England’s red- and white-ball squads are to be led by foreign coaches.
Key said that part of Mott’s remit will be to “help us invest in English coaches, getting them as much experience as possible over the next few years”.
Under his stewardship, Australia’s women won consecutive T20 World Cups and one 50-over World Cup, went four Ashes series undefeated, and triumphed in 26 successive one-day internationals, a record unmatched in either the men’s or women’s game.
He had previously coached New South Wales and Glamorgan and briefly worked with England’s new red-ball coach, Brendon McCullum, at the Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders.
