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Sri Lanka Cricket President Thilanga Sumathipala addresses the media yesterday along with Vice President K. Mathivanan, Secretary Air Commodore Roshan Biyanwilla - Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe
By Madushka Balasuriya
Asanka Gurusinha has been appointed as Sri Lanka Cricket’s new Chief Cricket Operations Officer, a move that SLC hopes will bridge the gap between the national team and its talent production line. The new role will see Gurusinha relinquish his Cricket Manager duties and take charge of SLC’s High Performance Unit and Brain Centre Operations, as well international and women’s cricket affairs. The former World Cup winner will take over the high performance reigns from Simon Willis, who announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down from the role early due to personal reasons. With Willis’ term set to officially end on 30 June - though it is likely to end sooner with Gurusinha officially set to start on 15 May - the transition process is expected to pick up speed in the coming weeks, and Gurusinha has already identified key areas in which improvements need to be made.
“With the High Performance Centre we were having a lot of problems where when we got players to the national team they were not ready to play a game. The intensity levels were low. So [Head Coach] Chandika [Hathurusingha] was struggling when the replacements came in. It took him a couple of extra weeks to get them up and running,” Gurusinha said, speaking to ESPNcricinfo.
“We’ll seriously review the High Performance Centre, because I believe if we do the same thing that we did in the last two years we will not produce cricketers, and that’s the main thing for us. We need to start producing cricketers.”
Gurusinha also hopes that his working relationship with Hathurusingha will ensure a more productive line of communication between the HPC and the national team, so as to ensure that both short-term and long-term goals are achieved in unison.
“Even though I wasn’t directly part of [setting up] the Brain Centre, I was working with them a lot and very closely to get data. And one of the things for me is that I know exactly what Chandika needs data wise. I can train these Brain Centre staff to focus on getting that information to give Chandika and his team.
“Short-term focus will be on player management. To win the World Cup, we need our best players fit. Hathuru and I will be spending more time on better managing the players. We have 14 Test matches and about 25 ODIs before the World Cup. If we don’t manage workloads correctly then we won’t have bowlers.
“[In the long term] we want more [depth]. Right now, we have five fast bowlers injured, and we don’t have too many replacements coming in. So we seriously need to look at what we’re going to do and build something. We’re not going to find too many but if we can even find a couple of young guys, we can do something because there’s so much cricket to play. The main thing is to try and cater to what the national team wants, and I think I understand exactly what Hathuru wants and that way, it’s going to be easy.”
Gurusinha’s sentiments were echoed by SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala, who expressed his belief that the appointment would see the HPC playing a more central role in the national team’s success.
“Gurusinha’s role here will help us build for the World Cup because he has been inside with the team, which is very important for Hathurusingha,” said Sumathipala. “Also we find that injuries, the physio, the trainer, the high performance manager, there are certain areas in which there has been a gap. So, now with Gurusinha and Hathurusingha put together, we believe Gurusinha’s role will be much more important.”
Sumathipala also confirmed that the board was in the process of appointing a new Cricket Manager for the national team, though the scope of the role is now likely to be more administrative in nature. Despite being brought in a managerial capacity, Gurusinha had seen his responsibilities grow from being part of the selection committee as well as having a more hands-on approach in team affairs, however with Hathurusingha’s appointment that level of responsibility had been deemed redundant.
“We’re comfortable with Hathurusingha and so we need an administrative manager, whereas Gurusinha is a level 3 qualified coach. His technical knowledge is so good that we feel he would be better use in the high performance field,” explained Sumathipala.
“There are people at the national level getting injured. They take longer than we expect to recover, so our rehabilitation situation is not ideal where some guys take 3-4 months to come back. In High Performance, we need a top qualified coach and we’re happy Gurusinha has agreed to take over.”
SLC elections set for 19 May; Thilanga to contest
Sri Lanka Cricket’s elections will be held at the board’s Annual General Meeting on 19 May, SLC has announced, with the deadline for nominations set for 27 April. Incumbent President Thilanga Sumathipala confirmed that he would run for another two-year term following recent changes to Sri Lanka’s Sports Law.
“The Minister of Sports recently changed the Sports Law so that you can hold office for four years,” explained SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala. “We strongly believe that elections should be held once in two years, and the Sports Law says you can get re-elected after two years.”
Sumathipala also revealed that changes could be expected to the makeup of his team, with certain members opting out due to other engagements such as present SLC Secretary Air Commodore Roshan Biyanwila. The core of his team, however, is expected to remain the same with the likes of Vice Presidents K. Mathivanan and Mohan De Silva, and Treasurer Shammi Silva likely to contest.
Despite having been ousted several times on legal grounds, Sumathipala is yet lose an SLC election. As such, he is favoured to win re-election, though his opponents are yet to be announced.
Following the elections, there will also need to be a decision taken on SLC’s selection committee, whose term is due to end on 15 May. That decision though will need to be approved by Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister, who will only be known following a soon to take place Cabinet reshuffle.
