Cost limits cricket participation, says Scotland women head coach Mark Coles
- Published
Scotland captain Kathyrn Bryce was one of 41 players recently awarded full-time regional domestic contracts in England
Cricket misses out on players "because it is so expensive to play", says new Scotland women head coach Mark Coles.
The New Zealander took over from Steve Knox earlier this year, having previously been in charge of Pakistan's women's team, and
And, speaking on the BBC's Women in Sport podcast, Coles highlighted the impact of cricket's cost.
"Cricket has priced itself, in a lot of ways, out of the market," he said.
"We are missing out on a whole lot of people because it is so expensive to play. Trying to find a bat under £300-400 for a young man or a young female now, is probably really hard."
When announcing Coles' arrival, Cricket Scotland said the focus this year will be the ICC Women's T20 World Cup European qualifiers and qualification for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
"It's been very exciting," said Coles. The weather has been interesting for me coming from anywhere between 23-30 degrees to snowing, so that was a new experience - coaching in the snow - but it's been really good and the Scottish people have been very welcoming
"Scotland have produced some outstanding cricketers that are all making their way into international leagues or international cricket - Kathryn and Sarah Bryce, Leigh Kasperek and Kirsty Gordon.
"That is pretty decent. I think it is remarkable what Scotland's women cricket has produced in the last 10 or 12 years."