‘Flogged from all quarters’: An Australian coach on being sacked by England, and what he really thinks about Ben Stokes
Matthew Mott was seasoned enough to know what was coming.
When England’s cricket supremo Rob Key insisted on travelling to Cardiff to see him in July, rather than Mott travelling to see Key as he typically did for their usual catch-ups, he had the distinct sense his time as white-ball coach was at an end.
After a strong start – winning the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022 – Mott had overseen a poor ODI Cup campaign in India in 2023, and this year had failed to defend the T20 title in the Caribbean. It was widely reported in England that either Mott or captain Jos Buttler had to go, and Key moved on the Australian coach.
Matthew Mott during the 2023 World Cup.Credit: Getty Images
“Very rarely do you get blindsided by that stuff,” Mott told this masthead. “From the moment we had a poor World Cup in India, we had to really knock it out of the park [in the T20 World Cup].
“I thought we actually played all right in the World Cup, it was a limited prep and we did OK. But I knew pretty much straight away when he wanted to catch up in Cardiff that that wasn’t going to end where I would’ve liked it.”
As subsequently came to pass, Mott found himself replaced by Test coach Brendon McCullum in an all-format role akin to that taken by Australia’s head coach Andrew McDonald. McCullum’s “Bazball” reboot of the Test side took place in parallel with Mott’s results trending down, and he does not begrudge the decision.
“Keysy just said they needed a freshen-up at that stage, and two world cups where we didn’t win it or get in the final,” Mott said. “I didn’t get anything concrete as to what I could’ve done differently or better, but I didn’t seek that either.
“At that stage I didn’t know who was going to replace me, but clearly that was in mind down the track that they’d go back to one coach.”
While his union with Buttler was not as successful as a previous alliance with former Australian women’s captain Meg Lanning, Mott stressed that their relationship remains strong, as it is with numerous other England players.
“We were really starting to work together well, but by virtue of not making that World Cup final, it was cut a bit shorter than I would’ve liked,” Mott said of his tenure with England. “I still think taking on that job was the best thing I’ve ever done.
“A bit like the England football team, the results were often better than people expected at times, but you were held to account if you don’t win. That’s the nature of that job.
“One of my greatest memories was in the dressing rooms with Jos and all the boys at the MCG after that win in Australia. That’s something all of us felt very privileged to be in there that time [to experience], and that feeling there certainly overrode any of the downs we had. We’re still in contact.”
Australian Matthew Mott celebrates another World Cup win, this time with England’s T20 side.Credit: Getty Images
Mott agrees his tenure never really recovered from the 2023 World Cup, where the team was eliminated from semi-final contention within a few games and then had to travel around India to complete their tournament without any hope of progressing.
“India was really tough. It was quite obvious we were in a big hole,” he said. “Usually when you have a bad world cup, you’re bundled out pretty quickly. But the format [of that tournament meant] we were there, and it just didn’t get any better, and we just kept getting flogged from all quarters.
“If we talk about the hardest things about the job, a lot of the time our lead-in to World Cups was not ideal. That was our biggest challenge – we had tired players starting tournaments, and that’s not what you want. You want players champing at the bit to play, rather than having to try to manage them.”
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.Credit: Getty Images
Having coached Ben Stokes during that unhappy 2023 World Cup, Mott marvelled at how much the team’s younger players were drawn to the inspirational figure.
“They just get a foot taller when they’re around him,” Mott said. “Even if they’ve had a bad day, he’ll be the first to say, ‘Boys we threw everything at them and let’s get ’em tomorrow, let’s go play padel for an hour, or go have a beer’. He’s been through tough times, and he wants them to play the right way.”
But Mott also admits some puzzlement at how little attention England’s red-ball side pays to the World Test Championship, given their stated ambition to keep Test cricket healthy.
“I don’t understand how they are so low on that,” he said. “I think the World Test Championship is a great idea. Some people are a little bit mystified how it all comes together. You can win a Test match and then drop a couple of places, [and] then there’s the over rates thing. The Australians got a lot of joy out of winning it, but where would they regard that as opposed to winning the Ashes?”
Now back in Australia as an assistant coach with the Sydney Sixers, Mott believes the Big Bash League may have to get shorter if it is to genuinely compete with other leagues for the best talent. Stokes, for one, will be playing in South Africa in January, rather than in the BBL.
“Less games are a great idea,” Mott said. “These guys are going from one league to the next, so a country like Australia is a long way to come to, but it’s a beautiful place and people love coming here. But being here for an extended period puts pressure on at home. A lot of these guys have young families. The SAT20 is over in less than a month.
“[For] young players coming in now, their managers are going to look at a tournament and say, ‘You get this amount of money for this amount of time’, so that’s always going to be the pressure for the BBL – the duration of the tournament.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.