Mark Justin Coles (born 1968/1969) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former player. He has served as head coach of the

Pakistan women's national cricket team The Pakistan women's national cricket team, also known as Green Shirts or Women in Green, represents Pakistan in international women's cricket. One of eight teams competing in the ICC Women's Championship (the highest level of international wom ...

since 2023, his second tenure with the team. He has also coached the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

women's team and the

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

men's team.

Playing career

Coles played cricket for

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

First XI, and between 1992 and 1996, he was in the

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

squad, making three appearances for the Second XI in the Provincial A tournament.Mark Coles
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2 May 2023. He retired from cricket in 1996 due to a back injury.

Coaching career

In 2000, Coles worked as a coach for the New Zealand women's "A" team. He then worked as a coach for Wellington College, and

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. From 2010 until 2012, Coles was a coach for

Vanuatu Cricket Vanuatu Cricket, officially the Vanuatu Cricket Association, is the national Sport governing body, governing body of the sport of cricket in Vanuatu. Its current headquarters is in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Vanuatu Cricket Association is Vanuatu's rep ...

. He has also been a coach at Waikato Valley,

Western Fury The Western Australia Women cricket team, previously known as Western Fury, is the women's representative cricket team for the Australian State of Western Australia. They play their home games at WACA West Ground, Perth. They compete in the Wome ...

, and

Wellington Blaze The Wellington Blaze is the women's representative cricket team for the New Zealand city of Wellington. They play their home games at Basin Reserve. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and the Women's Super Smash ...

. Whilst head coach of Wellington Blaze, they won the 2012–13 New Zealand Women's Twenty20 Competition. He also worked as a coach for

Northern Districts The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

from 2014 to 2017. In 2017, Coles was appointed head coach of the

, initially on a trial basis. He was not initially paid for his work, and had to pay for his own flights to

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. Coles was the team's first non-Pakistani coach. After Pakistan won a match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, he was given a two-year contract, on the proviso that he lived in Pakistan. He lived in Lahore in a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

with iron gates and

sniper A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...

s on the roof. Whilst he was head coach, Pakistan won nine of the 28

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

s that they played, and 12 of their 30

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

matches, and also finished fifth in the 2017–20 ICC Women's Championship. In 2019, Coles left his role with Pakistan women for family reasons; his Grandmother and Uncle had died earlier in the year. He had had a contract until the end of the

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup The 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women's Day. Hosts Aus ...

. Coles was replaced as Pakistan women's head coach by

Iqbal Imam Iqbal Imam (born 17 July 1969) is a Pakistani former cricketer. He played in 147 first-class and 115 List A matches between 1989 and 2005. In April 2019, he was appointed as the batting coach of the Pakistan women's cricket team The Pakista ...

, who served as an interim coach for the side. In 2020, Coles was a coach for the

Japan Cricket Association Japan Cricket Association, a Japanese non-profit organization, is the governing body for cricket in Japan. It was originally formed in 1984 and registered as NPO in 2001. The Association operates the Japan national cricket team and the Japan wo ...

. In 2021, Coles became head coach of the

Scotland women's national cricket team The Scotland women's national cricket team, nicknamed the Wildcats, represents Scotland in international women's cricket. The team is organised by Cricket Scotland, an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Scotland was ...

. He was Scotland women's first full time coach. Under his leadership, Scotland won the

2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier The 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played in August 2021 in Spain. The matches were played as Women's Twenty20 Internationals (WT20Is), with the top team progressing to the 2022 ICC Women's T20 ...

, which enabled them to qualify for the

2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier is an international women's cricket tournament that is scheduled to be held in 2022. It will be the fifth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier and will serve as the qualification tournament ...

, and failed to qualify for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

. In January 2022, Coles announced his resignation as Scotland head coach, effective from 26 February, as he wanted to move back to Australia as he had not seen his family due to COVID-19. He was appointed interim coach of

in March 2022 following the resignation of Carl Sandri. In January 2023, Coles was re-appointed as the head coach of Pakistan women team, on a two-year contract. He started the role in April 2023. However, on 10 August he resigned from his position due to personal reasons.

Personal life

Coles is from New Zealand, and attended Wellington College. His father

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...

played for Wellington in the 1970s. He is married to Mel Coles and they have two children. During the mid-1990s he worked briefly in radio, primarily in sports reporting. In 2020, Coles spoke about how he had suffered from

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

and depression, and had previously contemplated

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Mark Living people 1960s births Coaches of the Papua New Guinea national cricket team Coaches of the Pakistan women's national cricket team Coaches of the Scotland women's national cricket team Cricketers from Wellington City New Zealand cricket coaches New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Scotland New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Pakistan New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Vanuatu New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Papua New Guinea Wellington cricketers