Dallas, April 18 (IANS): Former Australian cricketer Stuart Law has been appointed as the head coach of its USA men's national cricket team ahead of their T20I series against Bangladesh scheduled next month just before the ICC T20 World Cup, the country's cricket board has announced.

Law has had a distinguished coaching career which began when he was appointed assistant coach of Sri Lanka back in 2009. His first head coach assignment was with Bangladesh in 2011-12. He then took over the reins of West Indies from 2017-2018 on a two-year contract.

In 2022, he was named as the Interim head coach of Afghanistan and later that year Law was appointed as the head coach of the Bangladesh U-19 Cricket team. He has also coached the English County side, Middlesex from 2019-21.

"It is an exciting opportunity to join USA cricket at this time. USA is one of the strongest Associate nations in the sport, and I believe that we can mold a formidable squad going ahead. The first task will be to prepare the team for the series against Bangladesh and then set our sights on our home World Cup, which will be huge," Law was quoted by USA Cricket.

As a player, Law made his debut for Australia in 1994. He was the member of the Australian team which finished as the Runners up in the 1996 World Cup. He was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1998. In 2007, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

"Stuart is one of the most accomplished coaches in the sport. He brings a lot of experience to USA Cricket with his varied assignments, particularly in developing international sides over the years.

"His appointment will only help the team grow to their full potential. We are excited to have Stuart on board just before the World Cup and look forward to lots of successes together. We wish him all the very best," Venu Pisike Chairman of USA Cricket said.