Trott to continue as Afghanistan men’s head coach through 2025

Jonathan Trott will continue as Afghanistan men’s head coach till the end of 2025.

His next assignment will be the ODI leg of Afghanistan’s multi-format tour of Zimbabwe, but he will not take charge in the other formats for personal reasons.

In his absence, Hamid Hassan will deputise as head coach and Nawroz Mangal as assistant coach.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board has extended Trott’s contract by 12 months following a highly successful 2024 for the team.

The year featured Afghanistan’s first-ever World Cup semi-final appearance following victories over New Zealand and Australia in the Group- and Super-Eights stages of the T20 event in the West Indies and the USA.

They have since beaten both South Africa and Bangladesh in ODI series in Sharjah.

Afghanistan’s next major global tournament is a maiden appearance in the Champions Trophy next year.

They qualified for the event after finishing among the top eight teams on the 2023 ODI World Cup points table, after a campaign that featured wins over England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Trott’s tenure began in July 2022 with an 18-month stint that was renewed by a year in January 2024.

Afghanistan have won 14 of the 34 ODIs and 20 of the 44 T20Is they have played since his appointment.

The ongoing stint with Afghanistan is Trott’s first as head coach. He was a consultant with Scotland during the 2021 T20 World Cup.

As a player, he made 3,835 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 44.08, and was a key figure in England’s away Ashes victory in 2010-11.

In ODI cricket, he made 2,819 runs at an average of 51.25 with four hundreds and 22 fifties. (ESPNcricinfo)