Mark Daniel O'Leary (born 19 June 1976) is a Welsh cricket coach and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He was head coach of

Western Storm Western Storm are a women's cricket team representing South West England and Wales, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic cricket. They play their home matches at the County Ground, Taunton, the County Ground, Bristol and Sophia Gardens ...

in 2020 and 2021, and coached the women's team of

Welsh Fire Welsh Fire ( cy, Tân Cymreig) are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competiti ...

in the

2021 season of The Hundred The 2021 season of The Hundred was the inaugural season of The Hundred, a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and women's teams located in major cities across England and Wales. The tournament was run by the ...

. He previously played cricket for Wales Minor Counties, as well as the second XIs of

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. Prior to being appointed Western Storm's head coach, he worked for two decades at

Cardiff Metropolitan University , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

and Cardiff MCCU.

Career

O'Leary played cricket for Wales Minor Counties between 1995 and 2000, appearing 5 times in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

, playing as a right-handed

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

and right-arm

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

bowler. He also appeared for

Second XI between 1995 and 1997, and

Second XI in 2002. He played club cricket for Sudbrook Cricket Club in

Sudbrook, Monmouthshire Sudbrook is a village in Monmouthshire, South Wales, south east Wales. It is located 4 miles south west of Chepstow and 1 mile east of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Caldicot. It lies close to the Second Severn Crossing on the Severn Estuary, and adj ...

. O'Leary has also undertaken various roles at

and Cardiff MCCU, eventually becoming head coach of the cricket team and a lecturer at the university. During his time there, he worked with various players who would become professional cricketers, such as

Jack Leach Matthew Jack Leach (born 22 June 1991) is an English professional cricketer who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents Somerset. Leach made his Test debut in 2018. He plays as a left-arm ort ...

Rory Burns Rory Joseph Burns (born 26 August 1990) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he captains Surrey in first-class and List A cricket. Burns made his Test debut in 2018. He led ...

Alex Milton Alexander Geoffrey Milton (born 19 May 1996) is an English cricketer. Milton attended Malvern College. He made his first-class debut on 4 April 2016 for Cardiff MCCU against Hampshire as part of the Marylebone Cricket Club University fixtures. ...

and

Matt Hobden Matthew Edward Hobden (27 March 1993 – 2 January 2016) was an English cricketer, a right-arm fast-medium bowler who batted right-handed. Born in Eastbourne, East Sussex, Hobden was educated at Millfield School and Eastbourne College. A po ...

. In 2018, he was named Coach of the Year by the ECB, as a recognition of his contribution to the game over two decades. In 2019, he was named as the bowling coach for

in the final season of the Women's Cricket Super League, which the side went on to win. Ahead of the following season, 2020, O'Leary was named as the head coach of Western Storm, leading them to second place in the South Group of the new

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy is an English women's cricket domestic competition, named after former England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint, who died in 2017. The first edition of the tournament took place during August ...

in his first season. In 2020, he was named assistant coach of

's women's side for the inaugural season of

The Hundred The 100 may refer to: Arts and entertainment * 100 (DC Comics), fictional organized crime groups appearing in DC Comics * ''The 100'' (novel series), a 2013–2016 science fiction novel series written by Kass Morgan * ''The 100'' (TV series), 20 ...

. After the tournament was postponed for a year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, head coach Matthew Mott withdrew from the side, with O'Leary stepping up into the role in his place. The side finished bottom of the table in the 2021 season. In February 2022, it was announced that O'Leary was stepping down from his role as head coach of Western Storm. He was replaced as head coach of Welsh Fire ahead of the 2022 season by Gareth Breese.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OLeary, Mark 1976 births Living people Welsh cricket coaches