Cricket Scotland will announce today that Pete Steindl has stepped down as head coach of the national team as a result of last month's failure to qualify for the T20 World Cup.
The 43-year-old Australian and his players came in for severe criticism after missing out on the top-six place at the 16-team qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates which would have taken them to next year's tournament in Bangladesh.
This always looked a vital period for the management - after a poor year for the national side in competitions and glamour friendlies - and the squad for their second qualifying campaign of the winter, this time for a place at the full 50-over World Cup in 2015, was named yesterday.
However, as that was being announced it emerged that Steindl's six-year tenure will end following discussion of his position at board level. "After the disappointment of the T20 qualifiers it makes sense to act now," said a source.
Under Steindl's leadership, Scotland have now missed out on the finals for the last three global competitions and have also lost their status as the leading Associate nation, having fallen behind Ireland and Afghanistan in the rankings.
Paul Collingwood, England's T20 World Cup winning captain, and Craig Wright, the Scotland under-19 coach, who were drafted in as Steindl's assistants for the two qualifying competitions, may now take over for the campaign in New Zealand.
Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland's chief executive, said last night that he could make no comment regarding Steindl's future but admitted it had been a setback to fail in what had looked the easier of the qualifying tournaments. He also expressed confidence that they would qualify and make it to the Antipodes for the World Cup finals in 2015.
"Clearly there's a smaller number of teams qualifying, so it's going to be tough," he said. "But it's a longer game which we feel suits us. There is still a belief that we are one of the better sides and it is in New Zealand which should help the European teams more than the Asian teams."
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