Afghanistan have appointed new fielding coach (Source:@acb_190/X.com)
The Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced former Ireland all-rounder John Mooney as their new fielding coach ahead of the tri-series in the UAE and the Asia Cup 2025. The Irish cricketer was earlier part of the Afghanistan setup as fielding coach from 2018 to 2019.
Afghanistan Bring Their Experienced Fielding Coach Back Before Asia Cup
Mooney has joined the Afghanistan training camp ahead of the T20I tri-series in the UAE and has been serving as the temporary coach of the Ireland women's team since January 2025.
He was also part of the coaching staff of the West Indies men's team in 2019 and has level 1 to 3 coaching certificates from the England Cricket Board. Along with the coaching experience, Mooney was a successful international cricketer as well and was among the crop of players who brought Ireland onto the cricketing map.
The all-rounder played 64 ODIs and 27 T20Is for Ireland and was part of some historic wins. He is remembered for his winning shot in Ireland's historic win against England in the 2011 World Cup game and emerged as a dependable cricketer for his country. He featured in the three ODI World Cups - 2007, 2011 and 2015 and two T20 World Cups in 2009 and 2010.
Nirmalan Thanabalasingam Joins Rashid Khan And Co. As Physiotherapist
He is now an established coach and will now work alongside Jonathon Trott, the head coach of Afghanistan. Along with John Mooney, Nirmalan Thanabalasingam has also joined the Afghanistan team management. He has been appointed as the new physiotherapist and has prior experience of working with plenty of franchise teams around the world.
He was working with Desert Vipers in ILT20 since 2020 as a physiotherapist and also has worked with Sri Lankan cricket as their high-performance training and rehabilitation manager from March 2017 to June 2018.
Afghanistan are scheduled to play a tri-series from August 29 featuring hosts UAE and Pakistan before starting off their Asia Cup 2025. They will also play the curtain raiser of the Asia Cup against the hosts, the UAE, on September 9.
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