Afghanistan has appointed Richard Pybus as their head coach and he would be replacing Jonathan Trott, who left the role after the team failed to progress beyond the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2026.
England-born Pybus is a renowned coach in the international circuit and will begin his stint with Afghanistan’s white-ball series against Sri Lanka in the UAE next month.
“The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Pybus as the Head Coach of the Afghanistan National Team,” ACB said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 24).
“He will join AfghanAtalan ahead of the upcoming white-ball series against Sri Lanka in March,” the statement also said.
After his playing career was halted by injuries, Pybus moved to coaching where he achieved success. In his previous roles, he served as head coach, director of cricket and head of high performance for the West Indies from 2013 to 2019.
During that time he put in place a structure where West Indies reached great heights. In 2016, the West Indies men’s, women’s and under-19 teams all won ICC World Cup titles in a single calendar year.
Pybus was also instrumental in guiding Pakistan to the final of the 1999 World Cup, where they finished runners-up. He also held a senior leadership role with Bangladesh cricket in 2013.
He has also worked in South Africa’s domestic and franchise cricket, where teams under his coaching have won nine titles. Also, for his success, he has been conferred with the South African Cricket Coach of the Year award twice.
Pybus has helped players such as Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan and South Africa’s Faf du Plessis to develop into world-class cricketers. He has also worked with Dale Steyn and helped him become one of the greatest fast bowlers.
He is a Level Four CSA-certified coach. In addition, he holds an Executive Coaching Certificate from the Neuroleadership Institute. Moreover, Pybus is a certified performance coach, and is qualified as a Master’s level NLP practitioner.
Pybus has also built an impressive academic profile. In 2022, Middlesex University in London awarded him a Doctorate in Professional Practice for his research on the ideas and methods behind the ‘Optimal Performance System’.
He also earned a postgraduate qualification from Greenwich University in London and completed his BA (Hons) at Portsmouth University in the UK.
