Kabul, Jan 3 (IANS): Former South Africa batter Andrew Puttick has been named as Afghanistan’s new batting coach, while Gordon Parsons, who played domestic cricket in England and South Africa, has been appointed as U19 team mentor, said the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).

Puttick was a left-handed opening batter from Western Province in South Africa and scored his maiden first-class century in just his third first-class game. Puttick might have only played a solitary ODI match for South Africa, but he had a rich domestic career.

He featured in 173 first-class matches, 172 List A matches, and 83 T20 matches, scoring around 17000 runs, including 40 centuries and 85 fifties. Puttick has recently served as the batting coach of the Pakistan men’s team in 2023, including in Men’s ODI World Cup in India.

He has previously been the batting consultant for the South Africa women’s national team from 2019 to 2023, assistant coach of the South Africa ‘A’ side, batting coach of the South Africa Men’s Emerging Team and the batting consultant for the South Africa women’s Emerging Team during the 2019-2020 period.

As per ACB, Puttick has been granted a one-year contract and will join the Afghanistan team during the upcoming three-match T20I tour of India, starting from January 11 in Mohali. Meanwhile Parsons has already joined the Afghanistan U19 Team in South Africa, where he will mentor the side during the upcoming ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024.

Parsons, also the brother-in-law of former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, was a right-arm medium-fast bowling all-rounder who batted left-handed. He has coached Highveld Lions in the past in South Africa domestic circuit, and is renowned for his work as a head coach and bowling coach.

He featured in 338 FC and 351 List A games, scoring 6763 runs and claiming 809 wickets in the first-class format, along with 1941 runs and 351 wickets in the List A format. Parsons played for Leicestershire and Warwickshire in English county cricket circuit, and also appeared for Boland and Orange Free State teams in South Africa.