Need 'A' teams to improve Pakistan women cricket standards: Mark Coles

KARACHI: Mark Coles, the head coach of Pakistan's women cricket team, has called for the formation of an 'A' team in an attempt to improve Pakistan's standards in international competitions.

Speaking to media in Karachi on Saturday, the New Zealander said that it is unfair to pick players directly from domestic teams and immediately thrown into international cricket.

"We need an A team, we have talked about it. You can’t keep picking players from domestic teams or the bank's teams and throw them into international cricket. None of the good sides do that. Australia has A team, U19 team. So has India and South Africa. It is unfair on them [Pakistani players]," Coles said while highlighting the importance of giving players enough exposure before they are picked for the national side.

He also highlighted the importance of participating in women's leagues internationally to provide Pakistani girls an experience of how things are abroad as far as women cricket is concern.

"I think it's really important for our girls that this happens. There is a league in Bangladesh coming up soon and I think a couple of our players have been invited to it," he said.

"We would love at least two or three to be involved in the Big Bash. I was talking to Andy (Richards) who has been with Brisbane Heat and he feels that there could be a couple of or three of our players who would be more than capable of playing over there," the head coach of the Pakistan women team stated.

He, however, expressed his satisfaction with the way the team has performed, saying it was heading in the right direction.

"I think that there is certainly some improvement in the batting with it being more positive. There are little improvements in the fielding, and we are starting to back up more and understand what our job is. I'd still like to see some of the bowling being a little bit more consistent," he said.

"I'm really pleased with it, going really well at the moment, so I'm very happy with where we're heading," he responded when asked about the team's preparation for the upcoming series against West Indies.

When asked, the coach said that he was looking forward to finishing among the top four teams so that it can qualify directly for the World Cup.

"Well, that's the plan yeah. That's exactly what we want to be doing. We are sitting at six at the moment. We obviously want to do that and it's a big series against the West Indies [who] are obviously a very good side making the T-20 semi-final. So they are going to be a challenge for us," he said.