Andy Moles set to quit Scotland

Andy Moles is about to quit as Scotland's coach after falling out with senior players, according to a report in today's Scotsman.

Moles, who took over the role in March last year, guided Scotland to victory in the ICC Trophy and gained them a place in the 2007 World Cup. But the newspaper says that despite verbally agreeing a two-year extension to his contract, he is about to step down.

The players are reportedly angry that Moles criticised them at the end of last season before spending three months in South Africa running the ICC's Winter Training Programme. While the Scottish board agreed to him taking on that role, it has alienated some of the team who felt he should have worked with them to prepare for a busy season.

His position was discussed at a Cricket Scotland board meeting on Tuesday night and a source told the Scotsman: "There is unrest over several aspects of the coaching situation. It's ironic after all the success the national side had last season but Andy seems to have lost the confidence of the players."

Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, refused to confirm or deny that Moles was ready to quit. A statement is expected this afternoon.

"The bottom line is that Cricket Scotland has failed dismally to target private finance," a local source told Cricinfo. "Their players still resent the slightest degree of criticism, and I suspect they are going to get the fright of their lives in the coming months."

Moles is said to be frustrated at financial constraints imposed on him. But if he does stand down, then questions will be asked. Moles walked out as coach of Kenya after falling out with many of their leading players and also because of the board's financial predicament. In fairness, at the time Kenyan cricket was a shambles, but many inside Kenya have not forgotten his time in charge.

But Cricket Scotland might find replacing Moles is far from straightforward. Neil Drysdale, who follows Scottish cricket closely, wrote in the Herald: "It will be interesting to discover whether any international luminaries will be prepared to walk into an environment where backbiting and whispering campaigns are prevalent, where the salary is modest by comparison with the county jobs in England, and where the administrators have little chance of changing the system, given that expenditure is likely to drop this season, now that the Saltires are no longer involved in the National League, thus halving their number of attractive fixtures."