Associate cricket luminary Andy Moles makes international coaching return

JAMES COYNE: The former Afghanistan coach takes his first coaching job, with the Bahamas, since having his left leg amputated below the knee in April 2020

Andy Moles, who had one leg amputated below the knee in April 2020, is back coaching on the international stage with the Bahamas.

Moles, 60, and his 14-man squad flew from Nassau to St John’s, Antigua last week to compete in the ICC Americas regional qualifier for the 2022 T20 World Cup.

The former Warwickshire batter, and Scotland, New Zealand and Afghanistan coach, contracted an MRSA bug in hospital in Cape Town, and due to the risk of septicaemia had his left leg removed below the knee in April 2020. He now has a fitted prosthetic limb and says he coped well with the demands of coaching in the two-month training camp with the Bahamas squad.

He told The Cricketer: “It’s been good. My mobility has got better, and my confidence has got better with it, so it’s been encouraging. No issues, really.”

He is realistic about the prospects of the Bahamas challenging for qualification from the seven-team Americas tournament. The USA, Canada and Bermuda are surely favourites to make the important top two spots, with the Bahamas targeting at least fourth position ahead of Panama, Belize and Argentina.

Indeed, Moles said there has been no domestic cricket in the Bahamas for more than 18 months, due to Covid-19. The national team have gone without an international fixture for a staggering eight and a half years due to a combination of lack of funding and ICC cutbacks on tournaments at this level of associate cricket.

Moles is no stranger to associate cricket, having coached Argentina, Hong Kong, Canada, Kenya and Scotland before, plus Afghanistan before they earned full member status.

“I’ve been out here for two months preparing the boys,” he said. “The facilities aren’t what I’ve been used to in my career. The Haynes Oval in Nassau is where we did our training, but the facilities haven’t been upgraded for some years now. But there’s been a real willingness and buy-in to try new ideas and transfer new skills.

^{Andy Moles talks tactics with Dawlat Khan}

“Our boys have had a lack of cricket in recent years, whereas the ‘Big Three’ [USA, Canada and Bermuda] have all benefited from tours lately.

“Although the Bahamas has a lot of wealth in the property market, the investment in sport does not replicate that, so that really needs to be looked at. There’s been no cricket in schools for a number of years either, which is a real problem. But so many places in the world are struggling post-Covid.”

Bahamas, while an ICC Associate member, is affiliated to Cricket West Indies, and they will make a poignant return to the old Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua, where they competed in the Stanford 20/20 tournament in 2006 and 2008.

While Moles has been with Bahamas focusing on qualifying for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, the 2021 men's T20 World Cup is ongoing in the United Arab Emirates.

Moles has watched his old team, Afghanistan, with interest. He worked for the Afghanistan Cricket Board for six years, coaching the men’s national side to the 2015 World Cup and later serving as director of cricket and national selector until he was released as part of a budget cut in August 2020.

Afghanistan missed out on qualifying for the semi-finals after defeats to Pakistan, India and New Zealand, but they were a constant menace.

Moles says: “The challenge for Afghanistan is usually consistency. Because of the nature of world cricket nowadays Afghanistan play so much T20 cricket compared to 50-over and then four-day, so sometimes the urge to hit out for boundaries takes over a bit.

“It’s basically about applying themselves to the conditions – we struggled with the bounce in Australia during the 2015 World Cup, and they were way behind the rest in the 2019 World Cup in England, because they just didn’t have the expertise in those conditions. It’s not that surprising they are doing better in the UAE, as they know those conditions so well.

Coach Moles pep talk pic.twitter.com/6SZw3UwMhi

— Bahamas Cricket (@BahamasCricket1) October 3, 2021

“I feel for Karim Janat, who’s a great lad, going for 24 in the 19th over against Pakistan, but he’s not the first and won’t be the last to be hit about late on in an innings in T20 cricket.

“I worked a lot with Najibullah Zadran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, so it’s been great to see them improving. Naveen-ul-Haq and Rahmanullah Gurbaz were also in my 2018 Under-19 World Cup squad [when Afghanistan finished fourth in New Zealand] and they’ve come on too.”

Whether Afghanistan will be allowed to continue competing in ICC tournaments in the near future may depend on a crucial ICC Board meeting in Dubai at the conclusion of the T20 World Cup.

Kabul fell to the Taliban in August, and the new regime’s hostility to women’s cricket, in contravention of ICC requirements, has led many to question whether the ACB should have their full membership suspended. Cricket Australia has already all but confirmed their men’s Test at Hobart later this month will be postponed indefinitely, as a result of the Taliban’s stance on women’s sport.

There is precedent for the ICC suspending or cancelling a board’s membership – the USA Cricket Association – while continuing to allow their national team to compete in international cricket, but that was while the ICC were setting up a replacement governing body in the country in question.

The ACB are said to be lobbying for support from other Full Member boards ahead of the ICC meeting. But ACB chairman Azizullah Fazli – himself installed by the Taliban – was quoted as saying to AFP: “Our government is streamlining things, and women’s cricket will also be streamlined.”

^{Moles had 11 months leading the New Zealand men's team}

Moles is calling for a grace period to be given for the ACB to organise women’s cricket to an acceptable level: “It would be disastrous [for Afghanistan to lose full member status]. I understand the rules and that the ACB are at risk of breaching them in terms of women’s cricket.

“But I hope the ICC don’t make a knee-jerk decision and instead give the board and the Taliban 18 months to get a structure in place to grow women’s cricket so that the men’s game can continue to grow too.

“It won’t just be Afghanistan cricket losing out if they are suspended, but also the rest of Asia who plays against them at various levels and the rest of the world who watches Afghanistan cricket.”

After Moles left the ACB the board did announce the awarding of 25 women’s central contracts in November 2020, but progress has obviously stalled since then, and some women’s cricketers fled the country or went into hiding when the Taliban re-took power. Moles was adamant there was progress made on women’s cricket during his tenure.

“It is not actually true that women’s cricket hadn’t developed. While I was there I went into a few schools to see women’s training and tournaments, and there was more activity going on as time progressed.

“The problem was the complexity of arranging fixtures, inside and outside of the country. The women and girls need more opportunity to travel the region to play in different conditions, too.”

Andy Moles received support from the Professional Cricketers’ Trust when undergoing his amputation. The PCT is the registered charity of the PCA. The Trust is dedicated to providing life-changing support to current and former professional cricketers, as well as their immediate families when they need it most. Click here to find out more.

RELATED STORIES

Afghanistan have done their people proud in trying circumstances

Asghar Afghan earned the right to choose his moment

Afghanistan, Najibullah Zadran and the rule of six