Former English wicketkeeper expected to leverage experience to scale new heights.
Qatar Cricket Association has appointed England’s Toby Bailey as the head coach of the national cricket team.
The former wicketkeeper batsman will take charge immediately, with the Maroons set to play Nepal on April 9 in a quadrangular Twenty20 Series alongside Hong Kong and Kuwait.
Baily, 48, holds an ECB level 3 coaching license and was recently with Cricket Scotland, holding various positions during his 12-year stint.
“An amazing opportunity to be a part of this journey,” Bailey wrote in an Instagram story, sharing the news of his appointment.
An experienced campaigner
The Qatar job will not be Bailey’s first time handling a national team, having coached Argentina in the late 2000s.
Similarly, his tenure at Scotland’s cricketing body saw him fill several important positions, including assistant coach and the interim head coach of the men’s national team from September 2018 to January 2019.
The former Northamptonshire wicketkeeper also oversaw the development of men’s and women’s cricket in Scotland. Both sides qualified for their respective ICC T20 World Cups in 2024, with Bailey as the head of Performance.
Cricket Scotland credited Bailey for playing an “instrumental role” in introducing professional contracts for women cricketers in the country after he moved on from his latest position as the National Performance Coach.
Bailey was also involved as a player-coach for Scottish side Carlton CC in 2012 and had captained the Marylebone Cricket Club — considered one of the most influential bodies in sport — side that toured Mozambique early in 2009.
Qatar will be banking on his “extensive experience in developing teams and players at various levels [sic],” the QCA said in the announcement post.
“He has held several coaching positions with prestigious national teams and clubs, where he has made a clear impact in improving tactical and technical performance,” it added.
The road ahead
Expectations for the new head coach will be to do well in the regional qualifiers of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
Qatar had advanced from the sub-regional qualifiers, held at home in November last year, alongside the UAE and have never qualified for the premier competition.
The sides finishing in the top three at the Asian qualifiers, set to be held in October in Oman, will secure spots in next year’s tournament. The likes of Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the UAE are in contention alongside Qatar.
While India and Sri Lanka automatically qualified as hosts, Asian sides Afghanistan and Bangladesh pulled through as teams that reached the top eight in the previous edition in 2024. Pakistan qualified as one of the highest-ranked teams in the T20I Rankings.
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