Familiar face Usman Saeed has been named Perth Doo’cot Cricket Club coach for the coming season.
And it is a move that is sure to go down well among members young and old.
Saeed, previously with the club as a professional, has played over 200 first class matches in Pakistan.
He has represented Pakistan A and was a member of their under-19 World Cup winning team back in 2004.
An ECB level two coach with experience in Pakistan, England and Scotland, Saeed is currently coaching at the Masood Anwar Cricket Academy in Rawalpindi.
All at Perth Doo’cot are looking forward to his arrival in April, including secretary Graham Ferguson.
“He is coming back as a coach,” Ferguson confirmed. “We have redefined what his role is.
“He is pretty much finished his first class playing career and is working now as a coach.
“It coincided with us wanting to focus more on the coaching side of things.
“We advertised the job on the Cricket Scotland website and got 13 or 14 applications.
“We had applicants from Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
“It transpired that Usman decided to apply. He obviously decided he wants to look at the next stage of his career now.
“We’ve managed to get him reclassified with the league to play too, which is a bonus.”
The fact that Saeed already knows the club inside out - and what is expected - goes down as a big plus.
“We know Usman and he can settle in very quickly,” added Ferguson.
“The players are more or less unchanged from his previous spell so he knows who he will be coming to coach.
“He knows the facilities, knows the club and knows the standard.
“That’s probably what tipped the scales in his favour as the preferred candidate.”
Indoor cricket is continuing for now but Perth Doo’cot are preparing for the start of outdoor action from April 12.
“Usman is due to come over in April,” said Ferguson.
“We have a couple of friendly weekends before the league starts on April 30.
“The formation of the league is the same as it was last year and there remains 12 teams in the league.”
Meanwhile, the countdown is also on to the start of the popular All Stars Cricket programme.
All Stars Cricket provides a first experience of the sport for children aged five to eight years, with a guaranteed eight weeks of fun, activity and skills development.
The programme is designed to introduce children to the sport, teaching them new skills, helping them make new friends and have a great time in doing so.
Every child that registers for the first time will receive a backpack full of goodies including cricket bat, cricket ball and personalised t-shirt with your child’s name.
All children returning to All Stars for a second or third time will receive a kit bag, a set of stumps, a new ball and a personalised t-shirt.
The cost is £40 for an eight-week programme and Perth Doo’cot will begin their sessions on Monday, May 9 from 6.30-7.45pm.
Anyone looking for more information about the programme can contact the club via email at perthdoocot@gmail.com
