Matthew Mott risks it all to try being white-ball saviour for England’s men

In some ways it seems strange for Matthew Mott to decide that this is the moment to move jobs. Since 2015 he has been building the Australian women’s cricket team into a canary-yellow juggernaut, bristling with firepower on every deck.

Faster bowlers, bigger hitters, fitter fielders, better athletes: even as other countries have raised investment in the women’s game, Australia are further ahead of the pack than ever. They may still be basking in a recent 50-over World Cup win, but there are more international trophies to target very soon. Mott has helped create a dynastic power, one poised to dominate the next few years like never before.

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Coaching an England men’s team, even in a position that only covers limited-overs cricket, is a different prospect. A sport media culture fed on football manager stories will offer less goodwill, more causticity and a strong chance of a curtailed tenure. It is curious why this was the challenge that drew Mott’s interest. While plenty of coaches treat women’s sport as a career stepping stone to men’s equivalents, he never has.

Mott did his apprenticeship in men’s first-class cricket at New South Wales and Glamorgan before winning the Australian job, where he signed three contracts while exceeding seven years in charge. He had comfortably the best job in women’s cricket and didn’t want the travel demands of all formats for a men’s team. It was only England splitting the job into separate white and red-ball coaches that won him over.

For all that his international Eoin Morgan is impressive now, he needed patience at the start. His Australian team started in 2015 with an Ashes win in