MLC 2023: Sunil Narine to lead Los Angeles Knight Riders, Phil Simmons to take charge as head coach

After playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League and the Caribbean Premier League (Trinbago Knight Riders), West Indies spinner Sunil Narine is set to lead another band of Knight Riders in the United States of America.

The Caribbean spinner will lead the Los Angeles Knight Riders in the inaugural season of Major League Cricket, near home in the US.

The tournament starts on 13 July with the Narine-led LAKR taking on the Texas Super Kings, who are set to be captained by former South Africa and Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer Faf du Plessis.

“I’ve always spoken about wanting to represent the Knight Riders wherever they play,” Narine said in a Knight Riders release.

“We’ve long talked about coming to the United States and I’m glad it’s finally happening. As captain of this side, I am looking forward to the challenge. There are a lot of experienced guys in this team who I can bounce information off, so it will be an exciting time for us. We hope for all Knight Riders fans in America to come out and support us, and all those around the world to keep cheering for us.”

In the squad, he’s joined by Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Jason Roy, Rilee Rossouw, Martin Guptill and Adam Zampa.

In the coaching department, he will have Phil Simmons from Trinidad by his side, who will be joined by Ryan Ten Doeschate as the assistant coach, Bharat Arun as the bowling coach and, AR Srikkanth as the analyst.

Simmons has an extensive coaching career in both international cricket and T20 leagues to draw on. He was the West Indies head coach for two terms (2015-16 and 2019-22), and has been with Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan in the past. In the T20 leagues, he was recently named the coach for Trinbago Knight Riders before winning the CPL with Barbados Royals.

Besides the CPL he also led the Dubai Capitals into the knockouts of the ILT20 inaugural season.