NCF targets national team’s improvement after signing foreign coach

The Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) has said the decision to employ a new head coach is to help improve the performances of the national team.

The expatriate coach, Asanka Gurusinha, will resume officially on the 1st of December 2020 and be unveiled on December 8 in Abuja.

The NCF’s Public Relations

Officer (PRO), Musa Ehizoje, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

According to him, over the last three years, the NCF had experienced tremendous growth and development in all areas of the sport.

According to Ehizoje, the Federation took the bold step to hire the services of a foreign coach of international repute and qualification with proven track record at the highest level in a bid to continuously improve and maintain the standard of the national team’s performance at elite level.

He said this decision became imperative as Nigeria looks to compete at more international tournaments in the near future and also improve her performance in world Cricket rankings.

The new coach is expected to head the high performance unit of the Federation and also act as coach trainer and mentor to Nigerian indigenous coaches.

Gurusinha, born 16th September 1966, is a former Sri Lankan Australian Cricketer, who had an 11-year international career, playing 41 Tests and 147 One Day Internationals for Sri Lanka.

He is a specialist left handed batsman and a key member for the 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka, scoring 65 runs in the finals against Australia.

Gurushinha is a Level 3 certified coach, and was appointed as the Cricket Manager for the Sri Lanka national team in 2017.

He has also served in the capacity as the Consultant Regional Coach for Cricket Australia.