GEORGE DOBELL found out how the duo helped steer the team to a nailbiting 2024 final in their first campaign on the coaching staff
Alex Hartley admits she thought it was a joke when the call first came through.
After all, why would anyone appoint her to the coaching staff of a men's franchise team when she had little experience in such a role? And, of all places, why would the country come from a team in Pakistan, where women don't have the same access to employment or education opportunities?
Even now, she says colleagues – far more experienced coaches who have worked in the game for years and yearned for such opportunities – ask how on earth it came to be.
But the owner of Pakistan Super League side Multan Sultans, Ali Khan Tareen, had been listening to Hartley's podcast (No Balls, a show she co-hosts with former England colleague Kate Cross) for a while. He had noted her increasing enthusiasm for mentoring younger players. He had noted the ups and downs of her career which included winning the ODI World Cup, captaining her regional side and losing both her regional and national contracts. And he had noted her engaging personality. The combination, he thought, might strike a chord with his squad.
He also hoped her appointment might send a message to Pakistan and beyond. Hartley, who he appointed as assistant spin bowling coach ahead of 2024, was the third female member of the management team at the franchise alongside Hijab Zahid, who is the general manager and Catherine Dalton, who is the fast bowling coach. And that made them unique not just in men's cricket in Pakistan but in men's cricket in any franchise in the world.
Related: The story of Multan Sultans' run to the PSL 2024 final
Related: How Owen Eastwood appointment inspired Multan Sultans' new era
Alex Hartley and Cath Dalton were hired as the first female coaches in the competition's history (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
None of this should be especially remarkable. But let's compare it with the situation elsewhere. In England, for example, there is only one female chief executive – and no permanent coaches – among the 18 counties. There are a couple of other examples of men's teams around the world employing a female GM. And there are a couple of examples of female coaches being utilised in short-term roles by men's teams. But nothing like this.
Pakistan probably does seem a pretty incongruous place for this to happen. It's not so long ago (2012) that 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as a result of her campaigns for female education. And it's not so long ago (2002) that Zafran Bibi, a 28-year-old, was sentenced to death by stoning after reporting her rape. The court concluded she must have had sex outside marriage. Right now, access to education and employment for women is still considerably lower than for men. Marital rape is not considered a crime.
It didn't start as a deliberate policy. When Ali Khan Tareen assumed ownership of the team (upon the death of his uncle) he simply wanted to assemble the best coaching team he could. And, in his experience, Dalton, was just that.
"I realised a few years ago that this person is probably the best technical bowling coach I've ever met," he says now. "I knew if I ever have an opportunity to hire someone, it would definitely be Catherine."
It was similar with the appointment of Hijab. He had worked with her before and felt she had the experience and characteristics to be ideal for the role. Her gender didn't come into it.
With Hartley, he was keen to appoint a recently retired coach who would be able to identify with his players and complement the technical knowledge of David Parsons, the senior spin coach. Again, her gender was secondary to her suitability for the role. But at that point he realised that, what he was trying to do with Multan Sultans, was new. And he hoped it might prove significant even beyond the world of cricket.
It's probably necessary to have a bit of background on Ali Khan Tareen at this point. The son of Jahangir Khan Tareen, who founded a company which, among other things, manufactures and sells sugar, he is a wealthy man with interests in sugar, cotton and mangoes. He also has a history of philanthropic activities, including funding schools. He has a particular passion for female empowerment and hopes the example of Multan Sultans can both inspire young women and show other employers what happens when you give the best people, regardless of their gender, an opportunity.
"It's definitely a big, big goal of ours to inspire young women in Pakistan and beyond and to demonstrate that equality isn't only the right thing to do, it's the best thing to do," he says.
Related: "It is about so much more than cricket": Alex Hartley and Catherine Dalton's PSL experience
Dalton, previously part of the England pathway, represented Ireland in eight white-ball internationals (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
"I learned long ago that, if you really want to change things, you empower women. I'll give you an example. We had a development project where we would train people over six months on how to best take care of their animals. We had a whole manual made. We had demonstrations. The programme was amazing.
"But six months afterwards, there was practically no progress. They were still doing the same things; still making the same mistakes.
"And we realised that the men were never home; it's the women who take care of the animals. So we did the project again, but this time we trained the women.
"This time the impact was huge. I learned that, when you upscale women in places like Pakistan, that is when you get the main change. Even in education, you can demonstrate that an educated mother has a much higher chance of educating her children than an educated father.
"We are the first men's team in franchise cricket to have two female coaches and a female GM. That's a really good thing we've been able to create. And I'm super proud that we were the first team in history to do it."
A version of this article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of The Cricketer magazine. Subscribe here
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