"It is about so much more than cricket": Alex Hartley and Catherine Dalton's PSL experience

NICK FRIEND - INTERVIEW: Hartley and Dalton were hired by Multan Sultans ahead of this year's Pakistan Super League, the first female coaches in the competition's history; here, they reflect on the experience of the last five weeks

They've spent the last five weeks together as bowling coaches blazing a trail in the Pakistan Super League with Multan Sultans, but Catherine Dalton and Alex Hartley can trace back their relationship to more than a decade ago, to three seasons of overlap at Middlesex, back when the women's domestic game was entirely amateur and before the PSL even existed.

Hartley was four years away from becoming a World Cup winner when she moved south from Lancashire in 2013; two years later, Dalton would make her international debut for Ireland. Hers wasn't a lengthy international career; Hartley's, too, might have been longer. One was already on her coaching pathway, more out of necessity initially than anything else; the other would become a prominent, respected broadcaster.

But both are bound by both their Middlesex affiliation, at a time without any kind of funding, and now by their experiences as the first female coaches in PSL history, working underneath the competition's first female general manager in Hijab Zahid.

So much has changed in the women's game, and simultaneously the shared hope through this opportunity is that their example – the mission of owner Ali Khan Tareen, who has made gender parity at the franchise a priority – can be a prompt for others, particularly at a time when Pakistan's plans for their own flagship women's competition have gone quiet.

"We are trailblazers," says Dalton, "but would it have happened had I had a super-successful career? For Ireland, I didn't get paid when I played international cricket for them; I was flying back and forth from London to Dublin for training camps and games, so I was having to coach. I suppose if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be sitting where I am today.

"In a way, I wish I was paid to play cricket because it would have extended my career a lot longer, but I don't regret a single thing. Being here is really special; I don't think it will hit us until we're on the way home. At the moment, we're just doing our job, so it feels like another day at the office, but as soon as we start to reflect on what we've achieved, I think it will feel very special."

^{Alex Hartley has worked with Multan's spinners through the PSL (Image: Multan Sultans)}

"You know what I'm like," adds Hartley. "What you say is what you get. I'm so blasé about these things – trailblazing moment, this, this and this. For me, it is – but I'm here to do a job. And what it is for me is so much more than cricket, so much more than being a female coach: it's being a female coach in Pakistan, being a leader in Pakistan, showing that females can be equal in this country.

"What Ali has done for this franchise is incredible: there are three female staff members here, and we have been treated exactly the same as if we were male, and that is the most important thing for me."

Hartley and Dalton are, by their own admission, an unlikely pairing, Middlesex days notwithstanding. Hartley has never deleted a photograph from her phone so has both an array of Dalton selfies now saved in there and also a digital gallery in her pocket of their times together on the women's county circuit. "It was pretty cool to be reunited," says Dalton, "and we've struck up a good friendship here."

"It has been lovely because we were never really close friends when we played together – two completely different personalities, and we've both grown up," says Hartley. "I've apologised for being a dick in the dressing room, or whatever. But we've struck up this friendship that will last forever."

Dalton, 31, has forged her reputation as a fast-bowling coach, working alongside former Essex seamer Ian Pont at their National Fast Bowling Academy; Hartley, who retired from playing at the end of last year's Hundred, co-hosts the successful No Balls podcast and is a regular on Test Match Special. She calls this opportunity – the result of an out-of-the-blue phone call from Tareen – "the best accident that's happened in the last couple of years".

Hartley, 30, wasn't chasing this chance – Dalton, on the other hand, has previously worked with Tareen at his academy in Lodhran in rural South Punjab – but reflects now that it was simply something "that you can't turn down".

She has had conversations about coaching in the past, "and it's something that I have always thought I could do", but she assumed that, with her skillset, the role would be closer to a mentorship position.

"More of a mindset person," she explains, "because I'm quite good at those things, bringing up dressing rooms, telling people they're great. Technical coaching, I guess, was something I would have to work on, but being here, I have just let my personality and my skills and knowledge of the game take over, and settle into it.

"It's something that I'm definitely considering in the future; I would 100 per cent come back if they want me here. I have absolutely loved it."

That has extended well past the coaching, and into the culture of Pakistan and the PSL. Hartley and Dalton have been fasting with their players since the start of Ramadan. "How do we know how the players feel about fasting and Ramadan if we don't experience it?" says Hartley. "We've decided that that's what we're going to do."

She admits, too, that she had her apprehensions beforehand, unsure "how, I guess, I would be received in a men's environment or a men's world. Being my first coaching gig, it was kind of daunting. But as soon as we got here, Ali spoke to the group and said, 'These are our coaches, this is what's happening.' Instantly, the players warmed to us; it was amazing".

Faisal Akram: "I feel at home now, Multan is my city"

They have felt indebted to the welcome from all around a squad that is also performing on the pitch.

Of their first week together, Hartley recalls: "When they were getting to know us, it was like, 'How many games did you play? Where did you play? Where's your favourite place to tour? How many games did you play for England? How many wickets did you take? What was your economy?' Everyone just wants to know everything about your career. 'I've googled you, put you on my TikTok.' Everyone has been so, so welcoming. I cannot praise this environment enough."

Sultans were the first franchise through to the knockout phase, while Usama Mir – the leg-spinner – is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament; Faisal Akram – another who has worked closely with Hartley over the last month – is a 20-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner, who came through Sultans' academy programme and made his PSL debut earlier in this campaign.

Hartley calls him "an unreal bowler; his best ball is probably the best ball we've got in the competition".

"His attitude of wanting to learn, wanting to play, wanting to get better – I'll text him if we're playing on a spinning pitch to tell him to be ready for tomorrow, and he's like, 'I'm always ready.' He is itching to play more, and I have absolutely no doubt that in the next two years he will be the main spinner in this team."

^{Cath Dalton has previously spent time coaching in Pakistan (Image: Multan Sultans)}

He had a preexisting relationship with David Parsons, who was called upon by Sultans to replace the unavailable Saqlain Mushtaq as their main spin coach for the tournament.

Parsons, these days performance director for England Netball but for a long time in the same role at the ECB, was involved in a training camp at the academy in 2020 and worked with Faisal then.

Work commitments meant that he was only with Multan for the start of this year's competition, long enough to become an important sounding board for Hartley, whose experience as a commentator – she thinks – has helped, both with her knowledge of individual players – "I've just got back from a World Cup where I followed Pakistan a little bit" – and in her communication with them.

"It doesn't feel like a franchise environment at all," says Dalton. "I know it's a cliché, but it does feel like one big family. The guys have been unbelievably receptive to us; they have opened up a lot to us. We do have that rapport and care for players."

She points to her bond with Abbas Afridi, who was disappointed with his own display in a last-ball defeat by Islamabad United on Sunday. He replied with 2 for 14 in the dismantling of Quetta Gladiators two days later. Hartley's connection with Mir has also grown; his main request of her has been to keep an eye on his back leg for its drive through the crease, and that coaching point has morphed into a greater trust.

"I think he respected me from day one," says Hartley. "Now, we sit and talk cricket for 10 minutes, but then we sit and talk everything ese for 45 minutes. So, you can have a good game or bad game; for me, nothing changes because I have also been through it as a player.

"I've done no technical work, it's technical reminders. It's being that support network; yesterday, on a spinning pitch, Faisal didn't play. He got the tap on the shoulder from Mohammad Rizwan, saying they were going with the extra seamer. I could see him with his shirt and jumper on, he was ready. I just went and sat next to him. I didn't say anything, and then I said, 'Are you okay?’ He said yes. So, I said, 'Are you okay?'

"I'm a big believer in asking twice. There wasn't much conversation, but he knew that I knew exactly how he's feeling, and then he started to open up and say how he was feeling. I think it is really important to be like that as a coach, so players trust you."

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