Gulf Giants appoint Trott as head coach, Bond as bowling coach
Puttick, Troughton and Lee also added in support staff reshuffle ahead of the ILT20 auction on September 30
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Aug-2025
Under Trott's coaching, Afghanistan reached the semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup • ICC/Getty Images
Gulf Giants, the ILT20 franchise, have appointed Jonathan Trott as head coach and Shane Bond as bowling coach for the upcoming season. They replace Andy Flower and Ottis Gibson, respectively.
Apart from being Afghanistan's head coach, Trott was also the head coach of Pretoria Capitals in SA20 and was replaced by Sourav Ganguly there. Bond's recent stints have been with Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and with Paarl Royals in SA20.
"The Gulf Giants have quickly become one of the ILT20's most successful teams," Trott said in a statement. "My goal is to empower players to excel and help shape a championship-winning squad through the first-ever ILT20 auction."
The ILT20 auction will be held on September 30 in Dubai for the fourth season which is set to run from December 2, 2025 to January 4, 2026.
"The team's ambition is clear," Bond said. "I'm excited to sharpen our bowling attack and make a decisive impact this season."
Giants have also added Andrew Puttick as batting coach, Jim Troughton as fielding coach and Nick Lee as fitness coach.
Their squad currently includes James Vince, Aayan Khan, Mark Adair, Blessing Muzarabani and Gerhard Erasmus as their retained players. Their new signings are Moeen Ali, Azmatullah Omarzai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Giants had won the inaugural edition of ILT20 in 2023, were eliminated in Qualifier 2 in 2024, and finished second from bottom earlier this year.