Coach with knack for winning titles

• Dinesh Weerasinghe reveals what made Ace Capital CC champions

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Dinesh Weerasinghe is a cricket coach who turns out champion teams by the dozen. 

In the 36 years he has been a coach (both school and club) he claims that he has got 89 teams into a final and of them won 58 titles. Quite an impressive record for a coach.

Weerasinghe’s latest success is with Ace Capital CC who won the SLC Major Clubs Limited Overs final beating much fancied CCC by four wickets at the SSC grounds on Sunday.

It was the club’s first major club title and according to Weerasinghe it was achieved without a single national player in the squad.

“To become champions, priority is discipline and having good practice sessions. There are 4-5 Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketers and 10 players can play in the Under-23 side. I mostly look towards improving the mentality of the players. If these players want to play at national level they must first defeat teams in the major clubs. You have to defeat teams that have national players, otherwise how can you progress to the national team?”

“You have to develop a good mentality to win titles, make the players feel comfortable. If they have problems at home they won’t come and perform well. We have to look after the players.”

“The Captain Thanuka Dabare has maintained a high standard of discipline. We never allow any squabbles to take place inside the team. This is a young team that has been playing together for the past two years. They have blended together as one unit and built up excellent team unity,” Weerasinghe said.

“I believe that discipline should begin from the schools. If you have discipline only you can progress to the national team. What the player does with himself once he reaches national status, we have no control over.”

Dabare who won the Player of the Tournament award of Rs. 1.5 million is the club’s white ball captain (50-over and T20),while Harsha Cooray, who is the coach is captain of the red ball side (3-day tournament). Cooray was coached in his schooldays by Weerasinghe who is the consultant coach of Ace Capital CC since 2019. In those five years Weerasinghe has taken Ace Capital CC to the Major Clubs T20 quarter-finals and to the semi-finals of the Major Clubs T20 and Limited Overs tournaments.

“I have won many titles as coach but to win a Major title defeating clubs with national players like SSC, Tamil Union and Bloomfield in the league stage and Moors SC and CCC in the knockout, this is the best. If I can develop a player into the national team I will be much happier than winning a club title,” said Weerasinghe who has a unique association with Ace Capital CC.

This team when they began playing in the Major Clubs has undergone name changes three times. They began as Seeduwa-Raddoluwa CC from Tier B and then went under the name of Sri Lanka Ports Authority as they progressed to a higher Tier. On both occasions Weerasinghe was the Captain. Today, as Ace Capital CC Weerasinghe is their consultant coach.