Scotland appoint Doug Watson as interim head coach

Ahead of the ODI World Cup, which is slated to begin in October in India, Scotland have appointed Doug Watson as their new interim head coach. The 49-year-old is currently the head coach of male performance with New Zealand domestic side Auckland Aces and will join the national team on April 8 and will stay contracted till July 31.

The European team will compete in the ODI World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe in June and July. Post that, they will host the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier in Edinburgh. Notably, the top two sides of the competition will qualify for the Qualifiers of the T20 World Cup 2024.

After being appointed, Watson stated that it’s a great opportunity for him and he would hope to carry on the same work that Shane Burger did in the last few years.

“I'm really thankful to everyone at Auckland Cricket for allowing me to pursue this opportunity with Cricket Scotland. It's a wonderful chance for me to coach another country, and Scotland's Men have been doing really well over the last four years. I'm looking forward to carrying on and developing the great work that Shane Burger has put in here. I know Shane well, he's worked really hard to help get Scotland to where they are,” said Watson in his official statement released by Cricket Scotland.

“I know it's obviously a short period of time that I'll be in charge, but there are two massive tournaments coming up which will be tough for us, especially the Cricket World Cup Qualifier. But it's also an exciting time as well - I'm looking forward to it and it's going to be fun,” the 49-year-old added.

Notably, Watson was appointed as the head coach of Namibia in 2012 and served till 2015. His other coaching work includes working with Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and serving as New Zealand's batting coach during their recent two-match Test series against England.

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store