Mark Coles

Mark Justin Coles (born 1968/1969) he was in the Wellington squad, making three appearances for the Second XI in the Provincial A tournament. He retired from cricket in 1996 due to a back injury. From 2010 until 2012, Coles was a coach for Vanuatu Cricket. He has also been a coach at Waikato Valley, Western Fury, and Wellington Blaze. Whilst head coach of Wellington Blaze, they won the 2012–13 New Zealand Women's Twenty20 Competition. After Pakistan won a match against New Zealand, he was given a two-year contract, on the proviso that he lived in Pakistan. He lived in Lahore in a compound with iron gates and snipers on the roof. and also finished fifth in the 2017–20 ICC Women's Championship.

In 2019, Coles left his role with Pakistan women for family reasons; Coles was replaced as Pakistan women's head coach by Iqbal Imam, who served as an interim coach for the side. Under his leadership, Scotland won the 2021 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier, which enabled them to qualify for the 2022 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier, and failed to qualify for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. In January 2022, Coles announced his resignation as Scotland head coach, effective from 26 February, as he wanted to move back to Australia as he had not seen his family due to COVID-19. He was appointed interim coach of Papua New Guinea in March 2022 following the resignation of Carl Sandri.

In January 2023, Coles was re-appointed as the head coach of Pakistan women team, on a two-year contract. He started the role in April 2023. However, on 10 August he resigned from his position for personal reasons.

Personal life Coles is from New Zealand, and attended Wellington College. His father Mike played for Wellington in the 1970s. He is married to Mel Coles and they have two children. During the mid-1990s he worked briefly in radio, primarily in sports reporting. In 2020, Coles spoke about how he had suffered from alcoholism and depression, and had previously contemplated suicide.