Papua New Guinea head coach departs

Cricket Papua New Guinea are on the hunt for a new men’s head coach after the departure of Carl Sandri.

The Post Courier reports Sandri and Cricket PNG reached a mutual agreement on Tuesday, ending a largely unsuccessful tenure for the former Italian international and Australian domestic cricketer, who took over from Joe Dawes in April last year.

Sandri had been on leave since returning from the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier B, where the Barramundis missed out on a second consecutive qualification for the event.

Across both formats, the side won just seven matches in 35 outings under his stewardship, missing out on T20 World Cup qualification and sat in bottom spot on the Cricket World Cup League 2 table, 15 points adrift from Nepal in sixth.

The Post Courier goes on to cite “personal and family reasons” for Sandri’s departure.

Sandri did not travel with the team during the recent Australian tour, where they played in the NT Strike Top End competition.

The Barramundis are set to return to Amini Park next month, hosting their first League 2 series at home in the competition after the pandemic forced previous tri-series to neutral territory.

Edit: This story was originally posted on Thursday when Sandri’s departure was rumoured. The decision was made official on Tuesday.

Daniel Beswick

Co-founder and one of our #ECPod hosts, Daniel is currently helping on ICC's coverage via their digital client. Daniel has also commentated and presented on ICC.tv broadcasts for pathway events since 2019, and in a rare feat called action at both USA vs PNG and Namibia vs Oman ODI matches at WCL2 2019 on the same day. Daniel has also been a member of WBBL/BBL and Olympic productions at Channel 7, also supporting commentators and on-air talent for the network’s coverage.