New Yellow Greens head coach Asanka Gurusinha says he is excited to manage the Nigerian national cricket team after his unveiling in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Sri Lankan, a 1996 World Cup winner, who was picked ahead of 32 other top coaches who applied for the job, admitted that the interview session was the most rigorous since his coaching career.
Speaking after his unveiling at the Media Centre of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, the 54-year-old said he was anxiously looking forward to starting in his new role.
He said, “I’m very excited to take up this job and I am really looking forward to the best we can achieve with the level of enthusiasm, talent and support that the Nigerian Cricket Federation has.”
President, Nigeria Cricket Federation, Prof Yahaya Ukwenya, said the appointment of Gurusinha was part of the federation’s bid to promote the sport in Nigeria.
He said, “We have been promoting the game at all levels, upgrading infrastructures, engaging strategic partnership, improving the quality of players and officials and maintaining appropriate governance and finance structures as our key goals for this administration.
“The hiring of the head coach is paramount to achieving at least two of those. We have five facilities that we are also upgrading side-by-side to international standard including the one that would be used for the National Sports Festival in Benin.”