In historic signing, Catherine Dalton joins Multan Sultans as fast-bowling coach

Catherine Dalton has been signed up as Multan Sultans' fast-bowling coach. Dalton, 30, becomes the first female coach in PSL history, and the first female fast-bowling coach of a top-level men's side. The official announcement is set to be made later today.

Dalton, 30, was born in England and acquired Irish citizenship in 2015, going on to represent them in four ODIs and four T20Is. She has visited Pakistan twice earlier and worked with several fast bowlers, including Mohammad Ilyas, Sameen Gul and Arshad Iqbal, as well as a number of Under-19 players.

An ECB-certified Level 3 Advanced Coach, Dalton has previously held coaching positions in the national fast-bowling academy in the UK and the Ultimate Pace Foundation in India where, among others, she worked with Deepak Chahar. Dalton was also assistant head coach at the UK-based National Fast-Bowling Academy, working alongside Ian Pont and Andre Nel.

"Having worked in Pakistan with some of the Multan Sultan players on two previous visits, I am really thrilled to be officially joining up with the franchise at the PSL," Dalton told ESPNcricinfo. "It's not lost on me the ground-breaking moment for a female fast-bowling coach to be working in a major men's T20 franchise. I am very humbled by the opportunity and cannot wait to hopefully help make a difference on multiple levels."

"Catherine has been part of our player-development programme for almost five years now. I have seen how she has improved players first hand. I always knew she would become a fast-bowling coach at a high level," Ali Tareen, Multan Sultans' owner, said. "And I am so glad that her first opportunity came at the Sultans."

When Tareen, a former co-owner of Multan Sultans, resumed full control of the franchise, he told ESPNcricinfo he wanted more females applying for coaching and management roles. "It's about equal opportunity," he had said at the time. "Normally for these roles, sides only interview men. We want more female candidates to apply for these roles too.

"We have three male coaches, and we endeavour to hire three female coaches. We want to have them in place before the start of the [next] PSL. I expect the female coaches to be foreign coaches for now, and when we have a women's team, these are the coaches we expect to move on and help us out with the women's team as well. This season onwards, I hope to achieve gender parity for all seasons as long as I'm owner."

Last month, the PSL confirmed it would be held in a window between February 8 and March 24, 2024. Multan Sultans finished runners-up at the 2023 edition, and have reached the final of each of the last three tournaments.