Scotland appoint Shane Burger as Head Coach

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Shane Burger

South African Shane Burger has been appointed as Scotland’s new Head Coach after he was named as Grant Bradburn’s replacement.

Burger, who will begin his tenure in March, will vacate his current role as Head Coach of the South African provincial side KwaZulu Natal Inland, where he has been for three years. Bradburn, meanwhile, has joined Pakistan as an assistant coach.

Burger has won three domestic trophies in his native land and was named Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Coach of the Year in both the 2015/16 and 2017/18 seasons. He served as an assistant coach of the South Africa A team in 2016 and has been an assistant coach at the CSA National Academy for the past two years. In his playing days, Shane represented Gauteng, Lions and KwaZulu Natal Inland in a 14-year professional career in South Africa as an all-rounder.

“I am both delighted and honoured to be awarded this position as head coach of Scotland”, Burger said. “The opportunity to work with players who have already shown that they can compete with the best in the business is an exciting challenge. Grant did a fantastic job and it will be my goal to move Scottish cricket to new heights on and off the field.”

CEO of Cricket Scotland, Malcolm Cannon explained the reasons behind picking the South African. “Shane impressed the selection panel not only with his skills and experience but also his passion for the role, his leadership capabilities and people management skills, so we very much look forward to welcoming him on board.”

Cannon went on to express Scotland’s ambitions in the short-term future. “We are looking to build on notable successes against four different Full Members in the last 18 months, including the historic first ODI win against England last June.

“We believe that Shane has the skills, energy and ambition to continue that momentum and enable further progress to be made towards our strategic goal of achieving ICC Full Member status”

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer expressed his excitement at the new appointment: “Shane joins us with an excellent coaching record from South Africa and a powerful winning mentality. We look forward to welcoming Shane into our environment and working closely with him towards our goal of achieving Full Member status and progressing higher up the international rankings.”

Scotland will play in a quadrangular series in Oman featuring Ireland and the Netherlands next month.