SA20 2024: Gary Wilson to coach Pretoria Capitals

DUBLIN – Ireland Men’s High Performance Coach Gary Wilson is heading to South Africa next week to join the Pretoria Capitals’ coaching staff as a Consultant Coach ahead of the starts of the SA20 – the franchise cricket tournament starts 10 January 2024.

Wilson, 37, appeared 292 times for Ireland Men as a player – upon retiring from playing in 2020, he coached the North West Warriors and since 2021 been the senior Ireland Men’s squad’s High Performance Batting & Wicketkeeping Coach.

He joins the Pretoria Capitals in the SA20 – a franchise league based in South Africa into its second year of operation. The Capitals finished the inaugural season on top of the ladder but fell to defeat in the Final to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

Although it’s the first time Wilson has coached competitively outside Ireland or the UK, there are some names that he is familiar with – former Irish head coach Graham Ford is the Head Coach of the Capitals, he has played with players like Paul Stirling and Will Jacks, and Wilson is familiar with other players from his County cricket days such as Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Wayne Parnell and Colin Ingram.

The competition goes from 10 January to 10 February 2024, and he departs on 1 January 2024.

Gary Wilson said: “I’m really looking forward to such a great opportunity to work within an established franchise system and develop new insights into the ever-evolving T20 format.

“With a T20 World Cup in June next year, it’s important that we are doing all we can as coaches and players to ensure we are preparing well for the tactics and approaches that teams will be bringing to the tournament, so this opportunity will be a great experience and, hopefully, I can bring back some learnings to the Irish setup.

“Thanks to Cricket Ireland for releasing me for the tournament and to the Pretoria Capitals for giving me the opportunity to support the squad.”