Matthew Mott to coach New South Wales

Matthew Mott, the former Queensland and Victoria batsman, has signed a two-year deal as the new coach of New South Wales. Mott will replace Trevor Bayliss, who guided the Blues to the Pura Cup final last season and was then snapped up by Sri Lanka.

Mott has been an assistant coach to Bayliss and also for Australia at the Under-19 World Cup in 2005 and he has just completed a six-week coach exchange at Kent, where he worked with Graham Ford. Dave Gilbert, the CEO of Cricket New South Wales, said Mott already had a good relationship with the players.

"Matthew Mott has served an invaluable apprenticeship in his role as the Second XI coach over the past three years and has performed an outstanding job with this team recording seven outright wins from the 12 matches contested," Gilbert said. "Players such as Ed Cowan, Ben Rohrer, Peter Forrest, Scott Coyte and Moises Henriques have benefited from his tutelage and moved up to play for the Blues.

"In many respects, this is a similar scenario to the appointment of Trevor Bayliss three years ago, who was the then Second XI coach. With the recent retention of Simon Katich on a five-year contract and now the appointment of Matthew Mott, I'm confident New South Wales can build on its success of recent years."

Mott, 33, was a top-order batsman who played 66 first-class games for Queensland and Victoria in a career spanning ten seasons. After beginning in his home state and helping the Bulls to the 1996-97 Sheffield Shield with a vital 86 as an opener, Mott moved south and became an important cog in the Victoria line-up. He played under John Buchanan at Queensland and John Scholes, David Hookes and Greg Shipperd at Victoria.

Mott said he was grateful for the opportunity to coach at a higher level. "I've learnt a lot in the past three years and am excited by the challenge of becoming the state coach," he said. "I'm looking forward to working again with many of the young players I've coached in the Second XI, as well as the senior players."