Afghanistan looking to appoint a new head coach after Graham Thorpe's illness

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is searching for a candidate to replace current head coach Graham Thorpe. The former England batter is not expected to join the squad in the near future due to illness. 

Thorpe’s stint as an assistant coach ended prematurely after being sacked by the England Cricket Board (ECB) due to England’s shattering loss of 0-4 to Australia in Ashes 2021/22. 

However, the 52-year-old was named as the head coach of the Afghanistan team in March this year. He was due to join the team in the last week of April but was said to be “seriously ill” and is receiving treatment in the hospital. Since then, the family has posted no information in the public domain. 

On May 10, ACB had wished Thorpe a speedy recovery on their official Twitter account. 

In the absence of Thorpe, Raees Khan Ahmadzai served as the head coach for Afghanistan’s limited-overs series against Zimbabwe. On the other hand, Nawroz Khan Mangal and Umar Gul are the batting and bowling coaches, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Ryan Moron, the former South African First-Class cricketer, has been the fielding coach for six months. He had previously donned the same role for Afghanistan in 2015 and 2017. Furthermore, he has been the West Indies fielding coach as well. 

Afghanistan’s next assignment is the Ireland Tour, consisting of five T20I matches slated to be played in the first week of August. Then, tournaments like Asia Cup and T20 World Cup will also hold great importance for the team.