Cricket coach Dougie Brown hoping to help Karachi be Kings again

By Gary Heatly

A version of this article first appeared in The Sunday Post on February 21, 2021

Former Scotland and England cricketer Dougie Brown is “really excited” about being involved as an assistant coach with the Karachi Kings as the franchise aims to retain its Pakistan Super League (PSL) title over the coming weeks.

Back in November, the Kings defeated the Lahore Qalandars in the final of the 2020 version of the star-studded Twenty20 competition.

Fast forward four months and the sixth running of the event is underway with the Kings having beaten the Quetta Gladiators by seven wickets on Saturday in the opener – and 51-year-old Brown is delighted to be part of head coach Herschelle Gibbs’ backroom staff.

“It is great to be here in Karachi and I am enjoying working with the team, I am really excited about this tournament,” Brown, who played One Day International cricket for England and Scotland and T20I cricket for the latter in his playing days, said.

“As well as getting to work with Herschelle, who was a fine player for South Africa, we have Pakistan legend Wasim Akram as our director of cricket which is great.

“Obviously, there is a bit of pressure on us as a coaching and playing group because we are trying to retain the title, but we have a very good playing squad here with so much talent.

“The team is led by Pakistan international Imad Wasim and also includes the likes of Babar Azam who has been in great form for Pakistan in T20 cricket, former Pakistan bowler Mohammad Amir as well as Australian Dan Christian – who just won the Big Bash in his homeland [with the Sydney Sixers] – and Joe Clarke who is on the cusp of playing for England.

“All of the matches are being played in Karachi and I really can’t wait to get my teeth into things over the next few weeks with these guys at the Kings.

“In terms of a T20 franchise event, this is actually quite a long one and if we go deep in the tournament we will be playing past mid-March.

“As a result, it is key that the guys form solid bonds straight away and play as a team and if they do that then I am confident we can do well.”

https://twitter.com/KarachiKingsARY/status/1363191143664508931

Brown left his post as head coach of the UAE last February and while the world has been a strange place since then due to the pandemic, he has certainly kept himself busy over the last 12 months.

“Since then I have set-up a business called RedBear Sports with my business partner Will Kitchen and we run a sports consultancy from Dubai,” he explains.

“I am the Abu Dhabi Cricket director of cricket while I am also involved with the Rajasthan Royals Academy which is based out of Dubai and specialises in T20 skills to feed players into the Indian franchise based in Nagpur.

“So, all in all it is pretty busy, but I am enjoying it.”

PSL 6 – which includes the Kings and the aforementioned Qalanders and Gladiators alongside Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi and the Multan Sultans – runs until March 20.