The 47-year-old played 84 ODIs and was a member of the Australian teams which won the Women’s Cricket World Cups in 1997 and 2005.

More recently Pride coached the Hobart Hurricanes in the WBBL and has also served as a consultant coach during one of the USA Cricket Combines as part of USA Cricket’s partnership with Cricket Australia.

“I believe that the potential for growth of cricket in America, particularly in the women’s game, is quite phenomenal," she said.

"We have a huge year coming up so I can’t wait to get going with the squad and hit the ground running from this weekend.”

The Sydney native comes into the women's program at a critical time with the team participating in a three-match Regional Americas Qualifying tournament against Canada. 

The winning team will progress to the eight-team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier, to be held in Scotland in August, which will provide the two qualifying teams entry into the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia next year.