Interim coach for Zimbabwe tour, until Head Coach selected
Aravinda de Silva (R), the think-tank behind SLC's coaching structure has taken the expertise of Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara, former skippers who rose to fame with their masterly cricketing brains - File pic
On the eve of 2022, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was busy interviewing candidates to replace former Head Coach Mickey Arthur, whose contract was not extended beyond the two years he was first hired for. The Mahela Jayawardena-led six-member selection panel interviewed six out of eight shortlisted candidates on Friday. The two remaining candidates will be evaluated in the new year with a view to finalising the appointment by mid-January.
The selection panel initially drew a list of 17, out of the many applications received after the post was advertised early last month. This was trimmed down to eight, following careful consideration of their key attributes.
However, former South African cricketer Lance Klusener, who was among the shortlisted candidates pulled out citing personal reasons. Klusener was Afghanistan’s head coach during the recent T20 World Cup in UAE and was among those 15 foreigners who tried for the post.
The Sunday Times is in the possession of the 17-name list. It includes five Australians, three Sri Lankans, two South Africans, two Englishmen, and one each from West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and Wales. Ashley de Silva, the CEO of SLC and a selection panel member, said they were hoping to finalise the appointment by mid-January with the new coach’s first assignment being the T20 series against Australia in February.
This means Sri Lanka will go with an interim coach for the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe starting January 16 in Pallekele, the venue for all three games.
SLC also did not offer a contract extension to any of the national team support staff after their terms ended in December. It advertised for the positions of Head Coach of National Team, Head Coach ‘A’ team, Assistant Coach Emerging Squad and Batting, Bowling and Fielding Coaches for the National Team.
On the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Committee, Jayawardena was roped in as the Consultant Coach of the Sri Lanka men’s senior team, as well as the men’s Under-19 and the Sri Lanka ‘A’ teams for a period of one year, starting yesterday.
Jayawardene was part of the Sri Lanka men’s senior team as a consultant for the first round of the T20 World Cup, played in the UAE and Oman in October-November this year. He is also the Consultant Coach of the Under-19 team, which is preparing for the World Cup in the Caribbean next year.
Jayawardena is the first appointment and will oversee the recruitment of all others into the coaching structure which no longer has a slot for Jerome Jayaratne, who was heading the High Performance Centre (HPC). But Jayaratne is likely to be made Chief Operating Officer, a position he occupied for a few years after being taken out from the HPC in 2016. He was transferred back to the HPC two years ago and was involved in hiring Mickey Arthur and overseeing the other coaching staff of the national team.
The new coaching structure will be headed by the Director of Cricket, a position currently held by Tom Moody, and includes Head of International Cricket Development, Head of Women’s Cricket, Head of National Cricket Development and Head of High Performance under whom Head Coaches of National, ‘A’ and Emerging teams, and Head of Brain Centre will work.
Additionally, the Director of Cricket is expected to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the resource persons at the High Performance Centre, Provincial and Districts levels. Moody is expected to arrive later this month to carry out the evaluation physically after SLC opposed his request to do it virtually.