Former Sri Lanka cricketer & international commentator Russel Arnold is among the inaugural Ambassadors appointed by Cricket Australia in its Multicultural Ambassador Program.
Russel Arnold, who won 225 international caps across all 3 formats, is now an international cricket commentator and Level 3 High Performance coach.
The father of two is a Trustee with the Foundation of Goodness, working to bridge the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged communities in Sri Lanka, and also an Ambassador for the Emerge Lanka Foundation who work to empower survivors of child sexual abuse.
Announcing his appointment on ‘X’, Russel Arnold said, “I’m proud to announce I am a Multicultural Ambassador for @CricketAus Alongside U Khawaja, Mel Jones, W Akram, R Shastri, Lisa, Alana King and more, I will be advocating to create more opportunities to engage, break down barriers that exist, support the Multicultural Action Plan.”
Former Sri Lankan middle-order batsman and all-rounder Russell Arnold was a handy cricketer playing from 1997 to 2007. Russell Arnold featured in 44 Tests, one T20I, and 180 ODIs, the last of which came in the 2007 World Cup final against Australia. After retiring, Arnold took up commentator and has become a reasonably renowned one too.
He is among the many past and current players, as well as industry and community leaders, who will champion diversity and support the goals outlined in Cricket Australia’s Multicultural Action Plan.
Inaugural ambassadors include Usman Khawaja, Mel Jones, Wasim Akram, Ravi Shastri, Lisa Sthalekar, Kishwar Chowdhury, Alana King, Peter Varghese, Swati Dave, and Fawad Ahmed.
The full list of ambassadors can be found here:
Cricket Australia’s Multicultural Ambassador Program has named 54 people with diverse backgrounds and experience across government, business, sport, media and community as the inaugural representatives.
Announced as a key action from the Australian Cricket Multicultural Action Plan, the Ambassador Program brings together esteemed leaders from various sectors to advocate for inclusivity and drive positive change within the sport and wider community.
The ambassadors, hailing from government, business, community, media, and cricket will help drive the five focus areas of Australian Cricket’s Multicultural Action Plan: Participation, High Performance, People and Representation, Communications and Engagement and Event and Experience.
Focusing on areas specific to their expertise the ambassadors will offer leadership, insight, and support to foster greater connectivity across the Australian cricket landscape. (Newswire/ Cric Aus)