Islamabad: Mark Coles is back as head coach of the Pakistan women's team, and will join the squad on their ongoing tour of Australia. The New Zealander takes over the responsibility from interim head coach Saleem Jaffar, who was originally working as the team's bowling coach with fellow former Pakistan men's international Taufeeq Umar as batting coach. The PCB, under a new management committee headed by Najam Sethi, has roped Coles in on a one-year contract. He previously served as head coach from 2017 to 2019, when he resigned from the role citing family commitments.

"I have worked with Mark and he is a perfect coach for a women's team - gentle but firm, friendly but strict," Sethi, told ESPNcricinfo. "He is a well-respected coach and in his previous stint with Pakistan he worked incredibly hard for the team's progress. Players only had good words to say about him, hence we have decided to bring him back and he will be joining the team in Australia with immediate effect."

The PCB has been functioning under Sethi ever since the government removed ex-chair Ramiz Raja and his board by revoking the 2019 constitution the PCB was operating under and giving the Sethi-led 14-member committee full executive powers to work on reviving the constitution of 2014.

Pakistan are presently in Australia for a series of three ODIs starting January 16, which are part of the 2022-25 Women's Championship. It will be followed by a series of three T20Is, following which the team will travel to South Africa for the Women's T20 World Cup - where Pakistan are in Group 2 along with England, India, Ireland and West Indies. Pakistan play their opening game against India on February 12 in Cape Town.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 11 2023

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.