{"id":1574,"date":"2026-02-25T15:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/?post_type=news&#038;p=1574"},"modified":"2026-02-25T15:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:50:16","slug":"richard-pybus-afghanistan-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/news\/richard-pybus-afghanistan-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Pybus Named Afghanistan Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has officially appointed Richard Pybus as the new head coach of the Afghanistan men\u2019s national cricket team, marking the beginning of a fresh chapter following Jonathan Trott\u2019s departure. The announcement comes shortly after Afghanistan\u2019s group-stage exit at the <a href=\"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/icc-t20-world-cup-2026-schedule\/\">ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pybus replaces Trott, who served a four-year tenure and guided Afghanistan to significant milestones, including a historic semifinal appearance in the 2024 T20 World Cup and a strong campaign in the 2023 ODI World Cup. However, after the team\u2019s early exit in the 2026 edition, the board opted for a leadership transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Richard Pybus brings vast international coaching experience spanning over two decades. The 61-year-old British coach previously guided Pakistan to the final of the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, where they finished runners-up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His global exposure includes senior leadership roles with the West Indies between 2013 and 2019, where he designed and implemented a high-performance system that resulted in a historic triple World Cup triumph in 2016, men\u2019s, women\u2019s, and U19 titles in the same calendar year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond international cricket, Pybus has enjoyed domestic and franchise success in South Africa, winning nine championship titles and earning multiple Coach of the Year recognitions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has also worked closely with elite cricketers such as Mohammad Rizwan, Faf du Plessis, and Dale Steyn, contributing significantly to their development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Academically, Pybus strengthens his credibility with an honorary doctorate from Middlesex University, London (2022) for research in high-performance systems. He also holds advanced coaching certifications, including a Level 4 qualification from Cricket South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His first assignment with Afghanistan will be a white-ball series against Sri Lanka, starting March 13 in the UAE. The series is expected to test his immediate impact on a talented Afghan squad featuring experienced and emerging players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Afghanistan Cricket Board expressed confidence that Pybus\u2019s structured approach and high-performance background will help the team regain momentum and prepare strongly for upcoming ICC tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this appointment, Afghanistan signals its intent to build a long-term performance-driven system aimed at sustained global success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1576,"template":"","tags":[822,823,824],"ppma_author":[489],"class_list":["post-1574","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-afghanistan-head-coach","tag-jonathan-trott","tag-richard-pybus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1574"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricbex.com\/story\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}