Why a women’s coach for a men’s team is closer than ever after a Pakistani T20 team became an unlikely pioneer in cricket’s fight for gender equality, writes Wisden Editor LAWRENCE BOOTH

When Test star Mohammad Rizwan approached Alex Hartley to ask about the spin bowling plans for the new batsman during this year’s Pakistan Super League, she knew she had been accepted into a world that had once seemed more like another planet. But she could be forgiven for having doubts.

A few months earlier, her agent Luke Sutton had taken a call from Ali Tareen, owner of PSL franchise Multan Sultans, who wondered whether Hartley was interested in a coaching gig.

Hartley told Mail Sport: ‘I laughed and said, “You’re turning me on, aren’t you?” Lucas said no. Clearly, this is an opportunity you cannot refuse. There and then I said, “Of course, I’d love to go.”’

It was, to say the least, a leap into the unknown. Hartley had first made a name for himself as a left-arm spinner, good enough to play 28 white-ball internationals for England – including the 2017 World Cup final against India – and then as a commentator for Test Match Special. She is now back in Multan and working on the men’s test series for the BBC. But coaching? Not so much.

The sultans, who had already signed up the Irish Catherine Dalton to work with their sailors, were not concerned.

“It’s not really technical coaching at that level,” says their general manager Hijab Zahid. ‘Most of it has to do with how you can take advantage of the circumstances and the weakness of your opponents. Alex has the mentality to go for the kill. She has played a lot of T20 and won a World Cup. So we thought she would be a really good influence on a lot of our bowlers.”

Still, there were concerns about putting a foreign woman in a prominent position in Pakistan’s most beloved sport. The World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index ranked the country 145th out of 146 this year, just a fraction ahead of Sudan and even behind Iran.

The WEF report continues: ‘Traditional norms around gender restrict women to the private domain and tend towards the roles of reproduction and care.’

And Multan is socially conservative, even by Pakistani standards. Women are difficult to spot in everyday life unless they are being transported around town on the back of motorcycles by their husbands. It is not the obvious crucible for social revolution.

“There was a bit of nerves on both sides,” Hartley said. ‘How do we act towards them? On the first day everyone was there and Ali said it was my turn to speak. I thought, “Oh damn, here we go.”

‘I was very nervous, but I said, “Look, you are the most important people. Whatever happens in this league isn’t about me, it’s about you.” I basically said everything I would have wanted to hear as a player. Once you say that, they will respect you.

‘But certain religious people won’t shake your hand. At the end of the games I would lie down behind the Hijab, and if she didn’t shake someone’s hand, I wouldn’t. And after you played them once, you knew. It almost became second nature.

‘I was pretty quiet for three or four days. After a few weeks, Cath and I turned to each other and said, “Everyone has changed a bit here, everyone seems a bit more relaxed.”’

“And there was an instance where Rizwan came up to me during a game and said. “What’s the plan for this batsman, Alex, as a spin bowler?” That was the moment I knew the whole team respected or supported what I was doing.”

For Rizwan, who tends not to even look female interviewers in the eye, this felt like a big moment. Zahid says the players were “super respectful.” She adds: ‘I see it as a sign of progress if we as a society can remove the gender barrier.’

It helped that the Sultans had a good PSL, topping the group stages with seven wins out of ten, and reaching their third final in a row – only to lose (for the third final in a row) by two runs to Islamabad United in Karachi.

And it didn’t hurt Hartley’s early reputation that the tournament’s leading wicket-taker was a Sultans spinner, the long-legged Usama Mir.

Does she see herself as a pioneer? ‘I’m blasé about a lot of things in my life. But when I sit back and see what we have done and see it on the news in Pakistan and all over the internet, I realize that we have been pioneers.

‘Hopefully we have shown that women can have equal rights in Pakistan. It is much more than a coaching position. I hope this will be the beginning of change in Pakistan.”

In that respect, Pakistan is ahead of England, where men routinely coach women, but not the other way around. The best-known example of a female coach of a men’s team in any British sport is Hannah Dingley, who was briefly agent of Forest Green FC following the dismissal of Duncan Ferguson in July 2023.

Why has English cricket proven resistant to change so far? “It’s a great question, isn’t it,” Hartley says. “I know it’s something a few teams have looked at.

‘For example, can Charlotte Edwards coach a men’s team? Absolutely, with her record. Teams would blow her mind to do it. Sarah Taylor has done a bit with Sussex and Manchester Originals. Lisa Keightley, the ex-England coach, went to South Africa. It happens.

‘What we don’t want is for it to become a checklist: just have a woman on your staff. If I’m not good enough to play for Multan next year, that’s fine, but I don’t want to become a tick-box box for any team.’

Zahid says the Sultans hope Hartley returns for next year’s PSL, which starts in April. ‘She exceeded our expectations. I saw her during training and at meals and she was always watching videos on her iPad. I was like, “Alex, take a break!” She was always busy, always involved. I expected her to be great, but I think we have a lot more than that.”

England must beware of the wave fall

I can’t say I have a problem with Bazball England’s love of golf: it means they don’t spend any more time than necessary thinking about cricket, and in Multan – where there’s little else to do before and between matches – it continues to haunt minds.

But some fans have taken to the constant golf references and noticed a lack of seriousness. When Brendon McCullum explained bowling coach Jimmy Anderson’s absence at the start of the Multan Test as being back in St Andrew ‘swinging the clubs’, it only irritated them further.

There is a danger of tone deafness – and England must be careful. Most fans would happily ignore the wave if it were out of sight and out of mind. But if the impression is given – rightly or wrongly – that it is getting in the way of the cricket, then the problems can begin.

Smooth showing in Sharjah

England’s victory over South Africa in the T20 Women’s World Cup in Sharjah on Monday was a reminder that their squad includes two all-time greats. Sophie Ecclestone took two for 15 with her flawless left-arm spin, cementing her status as the world’s top-ranked T20 bowler (she’s also miles ahead at the top of the ODI rankings).

And Nat Sciver-Brunt, cricket’s finest all-rounder, took charge of England’s chase of 125 on a sticky pitch and finished the match with a regal drive over extra cover to take her to 48 off just 36 balls. It’s a shame their exploits aren’t brought to a wider audience. England is lucky to have them.

Cold comfort for Bazball

Hats off to Pakistan captain Shan Masood, who was honest enough to admit that the England Test team ‘had an effect on the world’. While others mocked England, Masood studied them. As if to prove the point, he then hit a run-a-ball century on the first day of the series in Multan.