Mo Bobat, director of cricket at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, will join Derby County ahead of the English football season.
Ahead of the 2024/25 season, Derby County Football Club named Mo Bobat as the head of their new Sporting Intelligence department, according to a report in The Telegraph. This will be Derby’s first season back in the Championship since 2021/22.
Bobat had been involved with the ECB in various capacities since 2011, and became their performance director in 2019. He played a significant role in England’s across-format rise in cricket since that time. During his stint, they won the ODI World Cup at home in 2019, the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, and improved their performance in Test cricket significantly with Ben Stokes as captain and Brendon McCullum as coach.
He is now director of cricket at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who pulled off one of the most amazing turnarounds in IPL history in the 2024 edition: after being bottom of the table, they went into a streak of six wins that helped them qualify for the playoffs.
"No, he hasn’t left RCB,” a spokesperson of the franchise told Wisden. “He is a consultant and can always take up other assignments after an alignment with RCB.”
According to the report, Derby are set to “improve everything from team performance to recruitment and sports science, utilising cutting-edge analytics and data which will include an Artificial Intelligence programme exclusive to the club”.
At Derby, Bobat will work with Ed Smith, former England cricketer and national selector who also joined the club this year; manager Paul Warne, who has now masterminded four promotions from the third tier; chief executive Stephen Pearce; recruitment chief Mark Thomas; and academy manager Matt Hale.
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