ECB appoints Australian Leah Poulton as England women's managing director

The England and Wales Cricket Board has appointed Australian Leah Poulton as the managing director of England women.

The 42-year-old former batter, who played 90 times for her country, will start in November, succeeding Clare Connor.

Poulton has previously been the assistant coach of Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash League and was at Cricket New South Wales (NSW) as pathway manager and assistant coach for NSW Breakers.

She had a spell as high performance coach at Cricket Australia before becoming head of elite female cricket at Cricket NSW in a position she has held for the past six years.

The ECB said Poulton would be "accountable for the performances of England women, England women A, England women U19s and the overall effectiveness and reputation of the women's high-performance system".

It added: "Working closely with England women's head coach Charlotte Edwards and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, she will set a clear, unified vision for England women to consistently succeed on the world stage."

England will host Australia in a women's Ashes next summer.

"I'm incredibly excited and honoured to be joining England and to have the opportunity to help shape our programmes and, most importantly, invest in our people," said Poulton.

"I'm looking forward to working with Charlotte, Nat and the wider team, building on the strong foundations already in place and taking the programme forward.

"I know how vital strong pathways and a healthy domestic game are to sustained success, so I'm looking forward to connecting with people across the game and helping give the next generation of English players every opportunity to thrive. It's a huge privilege to be part of England women and I can't wait to get started."

Once again, English cricket looks to the antipodes for a leader. The England men's team has two head coaches from New Zealand - Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum - and a selector from Australia in Marcus North.

Now in Leah Poulton, another Australian goes in at the top of the game in this country. The appointment is part of significant changes in the set-up of the England women's team.

Along with Clare Connor, women's performance manager Jonathan Finch has also left the ECB and Poulton effectively comes in as a replacement for both.

In her time at the ECB, Connor had many different roles, acting as deputy chief executive of the organisation as well as holding positions at the International Cricket Council and Marylebone Cricket Club.

Poulton will have a much clearer focus, concentrating on everything to do with the senior women's team and the pathways that lead to it. For that reason, she is likely to be more hands-on than Connor.

She is thought to have beaten some significant figures in the English game to land the job and has previously worked with head coach Charlotte Edwards and selector Lydia Greenway in the Big Bash. Poulton is known as a calm, clear communicator, not afraid to have difficult conversations when required.

Poulton arrives at a rare time of calm for the senior women's team, who are next in action after Christmas. The focus in the early part of the winter will be on the squads below the elite level.

But the new year is as big as it gets for English cricket, with attention turning to an home Ashes series in the summer - and it will be an Aussie in charge of finally regaining the urn.

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