Cricket Canada has invited applications* for the position of head coach after Monty Desai’s three-month stint as interim coach ended August 15.
Desai’s contract included a results-based extension clause, but Cricinfo understands Cricket Canada had not told him whether they would exercise it. The board, meanwhile, went ahead and invited applications within hours of the team’s return from Scotland.
Desai is understood to have turned down a coaching gig in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to honour his pre-existing contract with Canada, and waited for four days for official communication before confirming his exit through a social media post.
“A short chapter, but a meaningful one,” Desai wrote on Instagram. “Grateful to Cricket Canada for the opportunity to serve as interim head coach over the past three months.
“Every environment leaves you with learnings. This experience further strengthened my belief that sustainable performance is built through time, trust, preparation, strong relationships and collective ownership.
“Thank you to the players, support staff and everyone who shared this journey. I leave with gratitude for the relationships built, the lessons learned and the opportunity to contribute.”
Desai’s stint was a challenging one, with the team losing all their three games of the Cricket World Cup League-2 tri-series in Dundee. Overall, Canada managed one win and five losses across two tri-series during his short stint.
In Scotland, Canada’s preparations are believed to have been hampered by paperwork troubles that left as many as six squad players without a valid visa. This meant Canada featured as many as three players registered with Cricket Scotland in their two practice matches.
Canada currently sit sixth on the League 2 points table and have four matches left in the campaign. The top four sides from the table will progress to the ODI World Cup qualifier to be played next year.
Desai’s exit comes at a turbulent time for Canadian cricket. He had taken over the team after Canada had lost all their four games at the T20 World Cup in February-March and that was soon followed by the ICC’s anti-corruption unit investigating allegations of corruption, focusing on Canada’s game against New Zealand.
It also emerged there were “serious breaches of its membership obligations” with the ICC which led to the governing body first suspended funding to Cricket Canada in May, and then suspending their Associate membership, announced after their quarterly meeting in Ahmedabad at the end of May.The board remains suspended and the ICC had put together a set of reinstatement conditions for Cricket Canada, after its annual meetings in Edinburgh last month.
*1445 GMT, August 20: The news story was updated after new information emerged about the decision