Australian Dav Whatmore, who coached Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title, has been appointed as director of cricket of the Baroda state team.He will also coach their senior side.
Whatmore will take charge of the state’s coaching system, with the Under-16, Under-19 and Under-23 team coaches to work under his direction. Ajit Lele, the Baroda Cricket Association’s secretary, confirmed the development, telling PTI: “Whatmore has been appointed as coach of the Ranji Trophy team and also the director of cricket for a period of two years.”
Before Baroda, Whatmore was in charge of the Kerala state team, but ended his association with them, following a disappointing 2019-20 season, where the team won just one of its eight first-class matches in the season.
In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Whatmore said that he is under a two-year contract with Baroda and that he will work at the junior levels extensively to create a successful “feeder system” to the top level.
“They’ve been in the mid-table and, from what I’ve seen, their short-format game is not too bad, so it will be a good challenge to make them an all-round team,” Whatmore said. “They’ve been in Elite A & B for a while in the Ranji Trophy, and you need to be a good team to remain there. My job is to see how we can build from there and make them a very competitive side across formats.
“They won the Under-19s [Cooch Behar Trophy] this year, so that tells you their youth cricket is strong. So the future looks positive. I haven’t been able to see first-hand the existing structure or a lot of their players, since I was involved with Kerala, but I’m keen now to see what’s in store.”
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Whatmore brings a vastly successful coaching portfolio with him. Apart from Sri Lanka, he has coached Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan. He has also served as coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League and was director of cricket at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
