The Afghanistan Cricket Board has appointed former Australian cricketer Shane McDermott as the new fielding of the men’s team.
Shane McDermott will join the side from February 1, 2024, when Afghanistan are all set to tour Sri Lanka. The ACB issued a press release for the same and informed about the new developments in the Afghanistan cricket team.
The press release read, “The Afghanistan Cricket Board confirms the appointment of the Shane McDermott as the Afghanistan National Team’s New Fielding Coach. McDermott is set to join the team on February 1, during Afghanistan’s all-format tour to Sri Lanka.”
Afghanistan Cricket Board appoints Shane McDermott as the new fielding coach of the national men’s team
Shane McDermott has loads of experience in cricket coaching and is a level three coaching certificate holder. McDermott has been associated with teams such as Australia, Sri Lanka, Western Australia Cricket Association, and Cricket Tasmania.
Shane McDermott has been working as the fielding coach of the Bangladesh cricket team since 2022 and worked in the same profile for Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2021. He has also served as the head coach of the Sri Lanka A cricket team.
Shane McDermott was also the interim fielding coach and interim national A team analyst at Cricket Australia’s National Cricket Center from 2012 to 2019. Afghanistan Cricket Board has recently hired Andrew Puttick as a batting coach for the men’s team. Afghanistan’s head coach is former England batsman Jonathan Trott.
Jonathan Trott has had great success with the Afghanistan cricket team over the last two years and has achieved many milestones during this period. Afghanistan were able to defeat Pakistan in a T20I series for the first time whereas, the team also had a decent stint in the recently concluded ODI World Cup.
Afghanistan defeated big teams such as England, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan and were almost on the verge of defeating Australia as well. There was also a time when Afghanistan were also in the race to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
Recently, on the tour of India, Afghanistan gave great competition to the Rohit Sharma-led side in the three-match T20I series. Afghanistan lost the series by 3-0 but the last match was the highlight of the whole series.
Chasing down a gigantic target of 213 runs, the Afghani team stretched the match to two super overs which is certainly a big thing for a team such as Afghanistan. Afghanistan have shown great progress in the last ten years and players such as Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are some of the best players in the current side.
Afghanistan are all set to take on Sri Lanka and Ireland in their upcoming series which is slated to begin in February. Afghanistan would play one Test, three ODIs and three T20I matches on the tour of Sri Lanka and will aim to register a win against the Lankan Lions.
Afghanistan would also be one of the main contenders to make it through to the knockouts of the T20 World Cup 2024 based on their performance in the ODI World Cup 2023.