Kathmandu, September 9
Nepal’s former coach Pubudu Dassanayake has been appointed US cricket’s national coach by ICC Americas.
Dassanayake, who had returned home to Canada after his contract with the Nepal team expired last year, has accepted an offer made by the cricketing body in the Americas, formed to settle years of dispute among rival factions of cricket administrators in the US.
“I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to coach USA, especially at what is an exciting time for USA cricket,” Dassanayake told ESPN. “I believe there is a great deal of talent here; it will just require hard work from everyone involved to get the best out of these players and hopefully see US cricket progress to higher honours.
“Our initial focus is on preparing the senior team for the WCL Division 4 event in LA next month. That is the first step on what I hope will be a successful journey.”
It was during Dassanayake’s tenure that Nepal qualified for the ICC T20 World Cup, winning against Hong Kong and Afghanistan. But following a dispute in Nepal’s cricket association, his contract was not renewed.
According to ESPN, Dassanayake was shortlisted as a finalist for the USA coaching job in July and he confirmed his interest in the role during a USA 30-man national squad camp in Florida, where he attended in a guest coaching capacity during a series of training sessions as well as two 50-over intrasquad matches to familiarize himself even more with the team ahead of his anticipated appointment.
“Nepal, they were from Division Four to Division One and played a World Cup and I want to do the same for USA,” he said.
In an interview with Onlinekhabar in April, when Nepal played Namibia at home, Dassanayake said he was open to coming back to Nepal, but would consider a job in North America so that he can spend more time at home.
Former CAN President Binaya Raj Pandey, in an interview with Onlinekhabar, said:
In 2011, I was in Bombay to watch the World Cup. On one evening I was having dinner with the chief of Cricket Canada, who told me about Pubudu. “We have this excellent coach who took us to the World Cup, but we are not going to renew his contract,” he had told me. When he told me that he’s gotten the team to the World Cup, I thought that he could be the right man for Nepal. I emailed him saying that we were looking for coach, and if he was interested. He told me that he would come for six months, and if he liked it here, he’d stay for a longer period.
