ICC Americas today announced two significant hires to drive the long term development of cricket in the USA. Former Sri Lankan Wicket Keeper, Pubudu Dassanayake (pictured above) has been named as USA National Coach, whilst Eric Parthen has been appointed Project Manager to lead the implementation of the strategic plan to help grow the sport in the USA.
Dassanayake’s coaching record speaks volumes, having most recently overseen the rise of Nepal from WCL Division 4 to the World Cricket League Championship and competing in the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup. Prior to his work with Nepal, he also coached Canada to reach the 2011 ICC World Cup.
Commenting on his appointment Dassanayake said “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to coach the USA, especially at what is an exciting time for USA cricket. 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 honors.
“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.”
Parthen meanwhile is a highly respected sports administrator in the USA with more than 20 years’ experience. He has previously worked in senior roles at the USOC as well as being the Executive Director of USA Boxing and the Chief Executive of USA Taekwondo. He will continue the work with stakeholders across the sport to develop a new constitution and governance structure that the USA cricket community can unify behind.
He said: “I am thrilled to be joining ICC Americas at such a pivotal point in its history. My focus will be on working with the whole cricket family here in the US and creating a sustainable structure to allow cricket to flourish at all levels.
“We recently held a weekend workshop for stakeholders which centered on rebuilding the governance structure of the sport to unify it and provide the best possible foundations for growth. We are now using the insight from that event to assist the development a new constitution for the sport that focuses on governing, regulating, developing and promoting the cricket in the USA at all levels.
“In addition to this work we will also be moving our offices to Colorado Springs to ensure we’re better located to deliver for the whole sport and be nearer to other national sports governing bodies so we can continue to grow and develop as an organization.”
Wade Edwards has also been promoted to the role of ICC Americas Project Officer and will utilize his knowledge and experience of cricket in the USA to support the transformation programme. Edwards has worked for ICC Americas for four years and has developed an outstanding network of stakeholders across the cricket community in the USA.
All three appointments were made following a competitive recruitment process that attracted a significant number of strong applications from within the US and internationally.
