In a related move, Hampshire Cricket has appointed Russell Domingo as its new head coach. He has signed a contract for two years that is all formats of the game. Under Domingo, a 51-year-old South African, they now have someone with authority at the helm. He replaces Adi Birrell, who left the club at the conclusion of last season. The appointment is a tremendous victory for Hampshire. They are committed to improving their competitive strength in men’s and women’s cricket at both domestic and international level.
Domingo started pursuing coaching at the young age of 22, succeeding in gaining a wealth of experience in many different roles. He is the former head coach of the South African national team. His tenure was a forward-looking five years, starting in 2012. He led them to a first ever T20 international series victory against Australia—a memorable 4-1 success. This win would be Bangladesh’s first ever win over Australia in any format. Domingo was head coach of Bangladesh between 2019 until his resignation in 2022. Earlier this year he took over as head coach of the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League.
Hampshire’s decision to appoint Domingo is a sign of their preparedness to invest in a solid coaching base. Alongside Domingo, Shane Burger has been appointed as the bowling coach, while Jimmy Adams will continue in his role as batting coach.
In his first official comment after taking a position with Hampshire, Domingo shared his excitement for the role.
“I think Hampshire is one of the big County Championship teams at the moment,” – Russell Domingo.
He carried that theme of the importance of his former working friendship with Adi Birrell home, stating,
“One of my best friends [is] Adi Birrell and we’ve got a long history working together.”
Domingo remarked on having kept an unusually close eye on Hampshire’s advances from afar, saying,
“So I feel like I’ve been very invested in the team for the last couple of seasons because Adi and I chatted every day about the team’s progress and what’s happening and how things are going.”
With Domingo at the helm, Hampshire aims to leverage his extensive coaching experience and success to enhance their performance in upcoming seasons. The wider professional cricket community will be keeping a close eye on how he progresses on this exciting new journey with the club.
“So it’s a massive privilege and a massive honour to be involved with a club of that stature. It was a no brainer for me, it’s an amazing opportunity and I feel like the club’s on an upward curve, they’ve done really well, particularly in white-ball cricket over the last couple of seasons, I’m really looking forward to it.”
With Domingo at the helm, Hampshire aims to leverage his extensive coaching experience and success to enhance their performance in upcoming seasons. The cricket community will be watching closely as he embarks on this new chapter with the club.
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