Following a historic week for the men’s program, USA Cricket now shines the spotlight on advancing the women’s game and today announces the appointment of Julia Price as the new Team USA Women’s Head Coach.
Price was among many well-qualified candidates who applied for the position and she was one of three finalists who stood out through what was a rigorous interview process.
Price is a former cricketer for the Australian women’s cricket team, a right-hand bat and specialist wicket keeper. She has played 84 One Day Internationals and was a member of the Australian teams which won the Women’s Cricket World Cups in 1997 and 2005. More recently Julia coached the Hobart Hurricanes, one of eight city-based franchises participating in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia. In addition to her Australia coaching experience, Julia also served as a consultant coach during one of the USA Cricket Combines thanks to USA Cricket’s partnership with Cricket Australia.
With so much at stake for the women’s game this year, USA Project Officer, Wade Edwards, stated “USA Cricket is extremely fortunate to engage the expertise of Julia over the coming months as we prepare to qualify to both ICC Global events in 2019 and 2020. Julia brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, from both her playing and coaching background, in a number of Full and Associate Member countries and on behalf of the cricket community, I’m happy to welcome her to the team.”
Price’s appointment comes at a critical time for the USA Women’s program, where the team will participate in a three-match Regional Americas Qualifying tournament against Canada at Broward Cricket Stadium, Florida from May 17-19. The winning team will progress to the eight team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier, to be held in Scotland from August 31 this year, which will provide the two qualifying teams entry into the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia next year.
Julia Price notes, “I’m absolutely thrilled to have been appointed as Head Coach for the USA Cricket Women’s National Team. I believe that the potential for growth of cricket in America, particularly in the women’s game, is quite phenomenal. We have a huge year coming up so I can’t wait to get going with the squad and hit the ground running from this weekend.”
The selection process for naming the final 14 players takes place this weekend in Northern California.
