Image Credit- Essex
Cath Dalton found it
incredibly easy to say “yes” at that point. While on vacation in
Greece with her friends, Ali Tareen, the owner of the Multan Sultans, called
and offered her a position as a fast-bowling coach for the PSL team.
Dalton was getting ready to return home to England for another season with
Essex Women, having just lost the Final against Islamabad United in a thrilling
last-ball match on Monday. She had gained an invaluable experience that she
would never forget.
“Making the
final night was truly special, but I think this franchise has done things very
differently to other franchises,” Dalton told ESPNcricinfo. “Having
two female coaches, one in Alex Hartley in the spin department, and myself, and
then a female GM as well, which has been really cool.
“For us to be so successful has been really exciting, but we have a lot of
people to thank and mainly Ali, to our owner, for putting a lot of faith in us
and for really empowering women. This is more than cricket, this is showing
that female coaches are here because they have every right to be and they can
do the job just as well. It’s an exciting opportunity and one we’ve really
enjoyed.”
As she freely
acknowledged, Dalton didn’t have a great reputation as a coach or player when
she had the chance. Born in Essex, she became an Irish citizen in 2015 and went
on to play four Twenty20 internationals and four One-Day Internationals between
2015 and 2016, which coincided with her completion of her undergraduate studies
with the goal of becoming a PE teacher.
She started coaching at the club level and earned her Level 3 Advanced Coach
certification from the ECB. She worked with Ian Pont and Andre Nel at the
National Fast-Bowling Academy in the UK and at the Ultimate Pace Foundation in
India. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Tareen asked Dalton and Pont to Pakistan
to do some fast-bowling camps. Last year, he named Hijab Zahid as general
manager and gave Dalton a call.
Dalton is supporting
Essex’s application to have a Tier 1 team in the reorganised domestic
tournament starting next year, as the women’s game in England and Wales
advances to the next big level. Dalton started playing Under-11s at Essex.
“When you are playing club cricket or you are within a pathway structure,
every county has their own pathway structure, you want to know what’s above
that to get to. Having that all synced up in one club is really important
because it gives you that identity,” Dalton said.
“I’ve been through the Essex pathway and it is really well run. There’s
some fantastic coaches there. There’s a lot of female coaches now involved in
the Essex pathways as well, so I think it all just ties together really nicely
and that association with a club can become very powerful.”