The new Vanuatu men's cricket coach says he can't wait to get started in his role and harness the local talent to help them win plenty of matches.
Peter Buchanan admits he knew very little about cricket in the Melanesian country when he applied for the roles of High Performance Manager and National Head Coach late last year.
"But I'm slowly, over the last two or three weeks, after talking to Shane Deitz (Vanuatu Cricket CEO and preceding head coach) , and you get on the internet and see what's been going on and who they are and what they've been doing," he said.
New Vanuatu men's cricket coach and high performance manager, Peter Buchanan. Photo: Facebook/Vanuatu Cricket
"It doesn't take long to work out there's a fair bit of talent there and it's just a matter of keep improving and try and harness it and try and win some games and see how we go."
From Melbourne, Australia, Buchanan will arrive in Vanuatu with 25 years of coaching experience under his belt and said he's looking forward to the challenge of leading a team in international competition.
"I've coached at grade level in Melbourne and I've played at grade level," he said.
"[I've] been around some pretty elite players and coaches and I've coached in private schools, rep sides, academies. When I saw the advertisement of Vanuatu - it's under the ICC banner - head coach I thought well why not?
"It's a chance to go up the ladder a bit and put my name in the hat and, bingo, I got down to the last three and was lucky enough to get the job!"
Peter Buchanan says Vanuatu Cricket CEO Shane Deitz (pictured in a player/coach role for the team in 2018) has been helping him settle into his new job. Photo: Ron Zwiers
Peter Buchanan will move to Port Vila at the end of the week and his first task will be to prepare the team for the second round of regional qualifiers for the World T20 in Papua New Guinea in March, with the Pacific Games in July and 50 over World Cricket Challenge in September also looming in a busy 2019.
"There's a lot going on," he admitted.
"I'm glad I'm actually getting there at the start of February because it gives me a chance to (spend) four or five weeks of getting to know the players and assessing the players and seeing where they're at and where they need to improve and just getting yourhead around the whole set-up on and off the field.
"Because once we get into March we've got a week in Brisbane of training and games and then go obviously to Papua New Guinea for a tournament against Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. It's not a lot of time but it's going to be exciting."
Peter Buchanan said he's "big on trust and work ethic. Everything that I've got out of the game, I was never given an easy ride so if you're prepared to put the hard yards in and listen and look to improve and enjoy the game I think the result will sort of look after itself".
Vanuatu will compete in the second stage of regional qualifying for the World T20 in March. Photo: Supplied/ICC
