Shivnarine Chanderpaul appointed as the head coach of USA Women senior and U19 team

Former West Indies cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been appointed as the head coach of the United States of America's Women's senior and U-19 team for 18 months.

The West Indies legend will be working with the team on a one-and-a-half-year contract, and his tenure will last until the end of 2023. 

The United States of America Cricket Association officially confirmed the signing of Chanderpaul as the team's head coach in a media release. 

"USA Cricket are delighted to announce that Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been appointed as the Head Coach of the National women's and Under 19 teams after the advertised recruitment process was completed," USA Cricket stated in a release.

In a long international career for the West Indies spanning over 20 overs, Chanderpaul played 164 Test matches, in which he scored 11867 runs, including 30 centuries. 

In 268 ODIs, Chanderpaul scored 8778 runs with the help of 11 hundreds. The unorthodox left-handed batter played 385 first-class matches in which he scored 27545 runs, while in 423 List-A games, Chanderpaul amassed 13439 runs, including 13 centuries. 

Chanderpaul is currently the head coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs and very recently served as the batting consultant for the U-19 West Indies men's team for a brief period.

Speaking about his job, the newly appointed head coach of the USA Women's team said he's excited about his new role as he's been a "huge advocate" of Women's cricket.

"I am excited to have been appointed as the Head Coach of the USA National Women's Team and Women's Under 19 Team," said Chanderpaul.

"The Women's game is something I am a huge advocate of, and I have followed the progress of the USA Women's National team with keen interest. In addition, I've enjoyed being involved in American cricket over the years as a resident of Orlando, so to be given this opportunity to become the Head Coach for USA Cricket is an incredible one," he added.

"I'm really looking forward to using my 20+ years of international cricket and my recent coaching experiences to help the women's teams progress to World Cups in years to come, particularly the inaugural Under 19 Cricket World Cup in January," the West Indian legend concluded.

The Operations Director of USA Cricket, Richard Done, said the board is thrilled to have someone of Chanderpaul's calibre in the team environment.

"We are thrilled to have attracted someone of Shivnarine Chanderpaul's calibre to work with both the Women's Senior and U19 Teams as Women's Head Coach and lead them onto the global stage," stated USA Cricket Operations Director Richard Done.

"We have an exciting crop of young cricketers, of which many are already making their mark at the senior level. Combining the two roles will provide coaching consistency across teams for those players as they develop," added Richard.

Chanderpaul will first link with the USA Women's U19 team, which will be departing for West Indies on July 3 to take part in the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Under-19 Rising Stars T20 Championship, which will take place from 5 to July 13 in Trinidad and Trinbago.