Mark Coles

Coles played cricket for Wellington College First XI,[2] and between 1992 and 1996,[3] he made six List A appearances for Wellington.[3][4] He retired from cricket in 1996 due to a back injury.[3]

In 2000, Coles worked as a coach for the New Zealand women's "A" team.[3] He then worked as a coach for Wellington College, and Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.[1] From 2010 until 2012, Coles was the head coach of the Vanuatu women's national cricket team.[5] He has also been a coach at Waikato Valley, Western Fury, and Wellington Blaze. Whilst head coach of Wellington Blaze, they won the 2012–13 New Zealand Women's Twenty20 Competition.[4] He also worked as a coach for Northern Districts from 2014 to 2017.[4]

In 2017, Coles was appointed head coach of the Pakistan women's national cricket team, initially on a trial basis.[3][4] He was not initially paid for his work,[4] and had to pay for his own flights to Lahore.[2] Coles was the team's first non-Pakistani coach.[2] After Pakistan won a match against New Zealand, he was given a two-year contract, on the proviso that he lived in Pakistan. He lived in Lahore in a compound with iron gates and snipers on the roof.[2] Whilst he was head coach, Pakistan won nine of the 28 Women's One Day Internationals that they played, and 12 of their 30 Women's Twenty20 International matches,[6] and also finished fifth in the 2017–20 ICC Women's Championship.[7]

In 2019, Coles left his role with Pakistan women for family reasons;[6] two members of his close family had died earlier in the year.[2] He had had a contract until the end of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup.[8] Coles was replaced as Pakistan women's head coach by Iqbal Imam, who served as an interim coach for the side.[6][8] In 2020, Coles was a coach for the Japan Cricket Association.[5][7]

In 2021, Coles became head coach of the Scotland women's national cricket team. He was Scotland women's first full time coach.[7][9]

Coles is from New Zealand,[6] and attended Wellington College.[2] His father Mike played for Wellington in the 1970s.[2] He is married to Mel Humphreys,[2] and they have two children.[1] During the mid-1990s he worked briefly in radio, primarily in sports reporting. In 2020, Coles spoke about how he had suffered from alcoholism and depression, and had previously contemplated suicide.[2]