Gary Shankland has become Cricket Without Boundaries’ new Kenya county manager.

A veteran of three projects, he takes over from Tracey Davis who held the role from October 2011.

Gary, who was already the charity’s HIV lead in Kenya, will be responsible for planning future projects, supporting CWB’s Ambassadors and working with our partners to develop our work there.

His involvement with the charity stems from his first trip to Rwanda in 2013. Gary initially signed up for CWB by mistake - he initially intended to volunteer for a different cricket charity – but since then he hasn’t looked back.

He said: “It was an amazing experience and I loved it from day one. I was astonished at the openness of the kids and the way they interacted with you as a sports coach compared to other adults in the community. “Over here a lot of the kids you coach don’t seem to be bothered but the enthusiasm over there was unbelievable.”

As well as growing the number of Ambassadors in Kenya and continuing CWB’s HIV/AIDS awareness work, Gary – who lives in Hertfordshire - is looking to develop the charity’s work in other areas. He is hoping to build on the successful FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) project – which he was part of – in February and wants to explore the possibility of using cricket to engage with people with drug and alcohol problems.

He said: “Kenya’s an absolutely amazing country and there is massive scope to grow the cricket and HIV/AIDS awareness and extend it into other areas.

“There will be a lot of challenges the HIV/AIDS infection rate is growing in some parts of the country, there are issues with drug and alcohol abuse and we know first-hand the challenges of addressing FGM. “The Ambassadors will be key to helping us increase our reach and develop these areas. Cricket is more established in Kenya than in some of our other countries and there is huge potential there.”

The first trip Gary has organised as country manager is the Autumn 2015 project which will see CWB volunteers visit Kericho, Nakuru and Murang’a.

Gary will be assisted in his new role by Matthew Maguire who will be working directly with Cricket Kenya to help them grow the game in different parts of the country.