New Delhi: In a major development in USA cricket, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the head coach of the country’s senior women’s and U19 teams is expected to not renew his contract post the ICC U-19 Womens World Cup in South Africa, to be held from January 14-29.
The development comes as a massive surprise, especially after USA Cricket on December 14 announced the U19 women’s team for the inaugural edition of the U-19 Women’s World Cup, to be captained by Geetika Kodali.
Chanderpaul and USA Cricket Hall of Famer, multi-discipline coach Jatin Patel, were on Tuesday present at the Atlanta Cricket League (ACL) annual banquet and had interaction about the USA cricket coaching and the future.
“We already have half a dozen renowned head coaches disconnected from the National team(s) since the new board is in place and I doubt if Shivnarine will renew his contract after the U19 world cup in South Africa,” Patel said.
“I had a word with Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s manager Jerin Chacko to clarify and Chacko has confirmed that he will not consider extending or renew Chanderpaul’ s contract after the Women’s U19 World Cup in SA,” he added.
Chanderpaul was appointed to the roles in July 2022 and started his journey with success, leading the USA U-19 team to a title (undefeated) in the Caribbean when USA defeated the defending champions Trinidad and Tobago in the final.
The legendary former West Indies cricketer also led the Jamaica Tallawahs as head coach to the 2022 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title at the Guyana National Stadium in Georgetown on September 30.
He became the first Guyanese coach to win a CPL title in front of his own country crowd. It was also his home ground where he debuted for the West Indies to start his illustrious international career. He was also one of the three inductees in the ICC Hall of Fame during the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
“It is really unfortunate that Chanderpaul has intended to part ways with the current role as head coach after the U19 World cup. His experience as a player and his expertise as a coach are of immense value, and it had started to show results in his early stint as a coach of the USA Women’s team.”
“USA Cricket governing body is trying to stabilise from the few losses since inception during 2018, as half dozen coaches, few administrators and few selected independent directors have departed and to lose Shivnarine at this juncture is a big loss for USA Cricket, no doubt about that,” an unnamed source close to the development said.
Though no immediate statement has been made by Chanderpaul regarding the decision, people close to the development are of the opinion that he is not comfortable under the current situation and lack of professionalism that is prevailing within the USA Cricket.
–IANS