SAN FRANCISCO, December 09, (THEWILL) – World Cup-winning Sri Lankan cricketer Asanka Gurusinha had been officially unveiled as the Head Coach and High Performance Manager of Cricket for Nigeria by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF).
Upon the breaking of the news of his appointment, THEWILL reported last month that an unveiling was planned for Tuesday, December 8 and that was what took place in a ceremony at the Media Center of the Moshood Abiola Stadium on Tuesday.
A hard-hitting left-handed batsman who was part of the Sri Lankan World Cup-winning team of 1996, Gurusinha had an 11-year international career and played 41 Tests and 147 One Day Internationals for Sri Lanka. He will take charge of Nigeria’s national teams and will also act as a coach trainer and mentor to the country’s rapidly growing number of cricket coaches.
The 54-year-old, who also is Australian, was picked ahead of 32 candidates that applied for Nigerian cricket’s top job. He displayed his excitement about the future of the sport in the country and his role in ensuring the sustained growth of the game in his comments at the venue.
“I am very excited to take up this job and I am really looking forward to the best we can achieve with the level of enthusiasm, talent and support that the Nigerian Cricket Federation has.”
The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, who was unavoidably absent was ably represented by Maria Whophil. On behalf of the Ministry, she assured the Federation of the their complete support for and alignment with the vision of the NCF.
“Since a little over three years that this board came into office, we have seen their passion and vision to grow the game, especially their interest in grassroots development. This tallies with the direction of the Ministry and we have been giving the support, they need.
“The unveiling of Asanka Gurusinha today was a tedious process, and we are glad that it came through. I want to implore all stakeholders especially sponsors, partners and supporters of the game of Cricket to rally behind the board and Asanka to make sure we make a success of this process,” she concluded.
On his part, the President of the Federation, Yahaya Ukwenya, said the hiring of Gurusinha was very deliberate and was a key agenda of their five strategic imperatives of the NCF.
“We have been promoting the game at all levels, upgrading infrastructure, engaging strategic partnership, improving the quality of players and officials and maintaining appropriate governance and finance structures as our key goals for this administration.
“The hiring of the Head Coach is paramount to achieving at least two of those. We have five facilities that we are also upgrading side-by-side to international standard including the one that would be used for the National Sports Festival in Benin.”
Ukwenya was optimistic that all the achievements both off and on the field of play are expected to rise on the heels of the expertise and professionalism that Gurusinha would bring to Nigerian Cricket.
The new coach was an integral part of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning Batting line up. He is a Level 3 cricket coach, and was previously the Consultant Regional Cricket Coach for Cricket Australia.
However, his coaching resume includes the unfavourable experience of 2017, when he was appointed as the manager of Sri Lanka’s national team, but had to resign from the position after consecutive defeats to India in all formats.
Gurusinha is expected to go to work immediately familiarising himself with the country’s best players in a closed camp for Nigeria’s top 36 players who were also in Abuja to witness the unveiling.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
