“It broadens my experiences and broadens my learning and hopefully it will hold me in good stead going forward”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Former Australia pace bowler Jason Gillespie has been named as Papua New Guinea’s coach on an interim basis.
Gillespie, who has coached Yorkshire in the past, will take over from ex-New Zealand off-spinner Dipak Patel, who left the role he had held since 2014 after it was reported that he and Papua New Guinea’s cricket board could not reach an agreement on a contract extension.
Gillespie, who is currently coaching the Australia A team, will join Papua New Guinea’s squad later this month.
Gillespie was granted permission to coach Papua New Guinea after the Australia A players withdrew from their upcoming tour of South Africa due to the ongoing pay dispute.
“I’m really excited about it, as much to have another cricketing experience with another team and another country,” Gillespie told cricket.com.au. “It broadens my experiences and broadens my learning and hopefully it will hold me in good stead going forward.”
Papua New Guinea will be preparing for a number of matches in Australia against the Australian Indigenous team and Queensland XI.
After that, they will host Scotland for two matches in October in order to increase their chances of taking part in the 2019 World Cup qualification tournament.
“I’m just excited to see how these guys go about their work. I’ve heard a lot of very good things,” Gillespie said. “Papua New Guinea played against Yorkshire in Abu Dhabi in the preseason and I spoke to a few of my friends at Yorkshire and they said the PNG guys were fantastic.”