ACB appoint former batter Graham Thorpe as team’s new head coach
Afghanistan will be looking to showcase some impressive performances in the Asia Cup followed by the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later this year. After a mammoth 61-run loss in an away T20I series against Bangladesh in the first game, the Afghans staged a remarkable comeback in the series-deciding second match by eight wickets to level the series.
After that morale-boosting win, Afghanistan would be hoping to carry the same momentum going forward and lately, have made a new addition to their coaching staff. They have decided to appoint former England middle-order batter Graham Thorpe as their new head coach with immediate effect. The news has been confirmed by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on their official Twitter handle.
Graham Thorpe’s cricketing career
In his illustrious international cricketing career from 1993 to 2005, the southpaw has represented England in 100 Tests and 82 One Day Internationals having amassed 6,744 and 2,380 runs, respectively. Apart from that, the 52-year-old has also featured in 341 first-class and 354 List-A games with 21,937 and 10,871 runs to his name, respectively.
The Surrey cricketer has a bit of coaching experience as well. He had served as the batting coach of New South Wales and was also named as their assistant coach in 2007. Apart from that, Thorpe has reportedly been involved as batting coach for England since 2010. He would now be expected to take Afghan cricket to greater and unattained heights as they look to take their game to the next level across formats.
The Afghans would be expected to put up a good performance in the T20 World Cup Down Under in October-November this year as a few of their seasoned players have a wealth of experience when it comes to playing on those wickets courtesy of their participation in the famous Australian T20 franchise league – Big Bash League (BBL). The key players like Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, and others would be hoping to make the most of their experience Down Under in the showpiece event.
