USA gets newinterim cricket coach

NEW YORK: Kiran More, the former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, has been named as the interim coach of the USA cricket team. He will take over from the former coach Pubudu Dassanayake after the 49-year-old announced his resignation due to differences with USA Cricket.

Initially, Dassanayake’s contract was set to end by March 2019 but it was extended to December 2019. Under his tenure, USA won the ODI status after beating Hong Kong by 84 runs in the World Cricket League Division 2 in April this year. Previously, USA had only gained special ODI status during the Champions Trophy back in 2004.

Dassanayake, who represented both Sri Lanka and Canada, has also coached Canada and Nepal. Meanwhile, More, who played for India in 49 Tests and 94 ODIs, has served as the Chairman of the Indian selection committee and also was the wicketkeeping-consultant of Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

USA have also appointed a slew of advisors on a short-term basis. Sunil Joshi has been named as an advisor for spin bowling, with Pravin Amre and Kieran Powell joining the set-up as advisors in the batting department. David Saker, who has been the bowling coach of both England and Australia, was named as an advisor for fast bowling. James Pamment, who replaced Jonty Rhodes as the fielding coach of Mumbai Indians in 2017, has been named as a fielding advisor. Incidentally, Joshi served as Bangladesh’s spin bowling coach until the end of their 2019 World Cup campaign. On the other hand, Powell played for West Indies last year during their tours of India and Bangladesh. He also partook in West Indies’ Regional first class competition, with the game between Leeward Islands and Windward Islands in March this year, turning out to be his last competitive match so far.

Paraag Marathe, Chairman of USA Cricket, said: “I want to thank Pubudu for the work that he’s done over the past few years to help the team reach ODI status. He is an extremely accomplished coach and a person of great integrity and strong values and his contribution to USA Cricket is valued by us all. He leaves USA Cricket at this time with our best wishes for the future.”

“We’re very fortunate that so many accomplished coaches want to work with USA Cricket. The coaching advisors we have assembled stand among the very best in the world and we believe that these individuals and the new structure, can help to take the USA National Team to the next level and provide the best chance possible of succeeding in the upcoming qualification tournament,” he added. USA are scheduled to play in the T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier, Regional Finals, commencing on August 18.