STATEMENT FROM MONTY DESAI – CRICKET CANADA HEAD COACH

After the recent announcement on appointment of Monty Desai as the head coach of Cricket Canada here is coach’s statement.

“I would like to open by thanking the board and management of Cricket Canada for appointing me to the prestigious and demanding position of Head Coach. It is truly an honor to work with an organization that has shown such strong faith in my experience and abilities. There is an excitement to begin this journey where so much is at stake as six countries will be participating in the ICC World Cricket League, Division II Tournament, in Namibia next month.

It has been thrilling to spend these last few days in Sri Lanka with a combination of seasoned players with whom I have previously engaged after having gained additional experience myself. At the same time, the new faces to this game, are equally good, and bring their own unique value to the team. It is evident that we are working with a wide range of skills, and along with the wealth of experience brought by our Captain, Davy Jacobs; it is easy to be very optimistic at the onset of this journey.

That said, we are already into very specific preparation where we have identified roles for individual players to assess their execution of skills under a litany of scenarios. Having played two practice games against formidable sides from Sri Lanka, we have seen firsthand the preliminary outcomes of some reasonably good performances with bat and ball, which is allowing us to better solidify our game-plan moving forward. Nevertheless, we continue to explore few strategies including creating opportunities for each and every player in the squad.

For now, the plan will be to find the right combination early through these practice games we are playing in Sri Lanka. Time and again, I find myself emphasizing wherever I go, that as a team, our focus is to continuously repeat best practices without being overly concerned about the circumstances and consequences. And those best practices, from my perspective, are to plan and prepare well before every game!

About Cricket Canada

Cricket Canada is the national governing body of Cricket in Canada and a member of International Cricket Council (ICC), Sports Canada & Canadian Olympic Committee. Formerly named Canadian Cricket Association (CCA), the organisation was established in 1892 and has ten provincial boards operating in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Cricket Canada’s mission is to govern, develop and promote cricket across all regions of Canada with the aim of achieving the vision of Canada being a leading cricket nation through growing popularity, building a sustainable organization, and achieving international success.