Former England batter Jonathan Trott has been appointed as the head coach of the Pretoria Capitals in the South Africa T20 (SA20). Trott will take over from Graham Ford who left the role last month.

Trott at present is serving as the head coach of the Afghanistan National side. He has been working with the team for the past two years and had his deal renewed in January to run through to the end of 2024. The is no clarity on whether the Englishman would continue with the Afghanistan side or not.

The Capitals are amid a broader shake-up after Ricky Ponting was let go ending his seven-year association with the Delhi franchise. Pretoria’s decision to move on from Ford came after a difficult second season in which they won just three matches and finished fifth. They were losing finalists in the competition’s first edition in 2023 after topping the table.

Trott has had a fantastic coaching career so far. In his two years with the Afghanistan team, the side has shown immense potential and has moved upwards with a drastic change in their results at the global event. Before the 50-over World Cup last year, they had won just one match in an ICC tournament – both 50-over and T20.

However, the results saw a huge change as they defeated Australia, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Bangladesh in the last nine months across the 2023 ODI and 2024 T20I World Cups. They scripted history and made it through to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, but failed to make it to the finals, losing to South Africa.

Trott’s name is also being speculated for England’s limited-overs job but is thought to be an outside bet with a decision to be made in the coming days on the future of incumbent head coach Matthew Mott. He is currently working as an assistant coach of Trent Rockets in the men’s Hundred.