Former England international and current Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott has signed a deal to take over as Pretoria Capitals' head coach in the upcoming SA20 season.
Jonathan Trott signs for Pretoria Capitals in SA20
Pretoria Capitals had announced four days ago that they would be parting company with erstwhile head coach Graham Ford, and Trott has now been announced as his replacement.
Ford had been in charge of the team since their inception in 2023, leading them to the playoffs in that first season. The 2024 season was a difficult one for the franchise, as they finished fifth out of six teams, registering just three wins in 10 group stage matches.
Pretoria Capitals are owned by the JSW Group, which also owns Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. DC parted ways with head coach Ricky Ponting earlier this month and is yet to announce a replacement. It is not out of the question that Trott could be a candidate for that job, perhaps in the future. DC had also signed one of Trott's charges at Afghanistan, Gulbadin Naib, as a replacement player in IPL 2024.
The former England batter is also one of the candidates listed by bookmakers to take over from Matthew Mott as England men's white-ball head coach, although he is not seriously thought to be in the running as Andrew Flintoff appears to be the favourite there.
From 🇿🇦 ⏩ 🏴 ⏩ 🇦🇫 ⏩ 🇿🇦 🙌
— Pretoria Capitals (@PretoriaCapsSA) July 29, 2024
Pretoria, give us a warm cheer as we welcome Jonathan Trott as the Head Coach for the upcoming #SA20 season 3⃣ 🤌#RoarSaamMore pic.twitter.com/eCAgP7nuaK
Has Jonathan Trott left Afghanistan?
Trott had taken over leadership of the Afghanistan men's national team in July 2022. During his tenure, they participated in three World Cups — the T20 editions in 2022 and 2024, and the ODI edition in 2023.
The most recent one of those tournament saw Afghanistan achieve a fairytale run to the semifinals, taking down Australia and Bangladesh along the way. They were thumped by South Africa at that stage, but drew accolades for their performance throughout the tournament.
🗣️ "It's not that you watch them and you think that they've got a bit of pluck and courage. They've just got a quality cricket team."
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) June 26, 2024
Afghanistan made history by qualifying for the #T20WorldCup semi-finals 👏
Can they go one step further tonight?
🤝 @KiaUK pic.twitter.com/meqj1p9xze
In the ODI World Cup in 2023, Afghanistan managed memorable victories over Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka. They had eventual champions Australia on the ropes at 91-7 in defense of 292, and narrowly missed out on a semifinal berth thanks to a Glenn Maxwell double-century.
There has not been official confirmation as yet of Trott's departure from the head coaching role with Afghanistan. He had signed a contract extension earlier this year to remain with the team until the end of the calendar year. Given that the next season of SA20 is only in 2025, Trott may complete his term with Afghanistan before taking over at Pretoria.
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