Hashan Tillakaratne takes over Under 19s

By MadushkaBalasuriya

HashanTillakaratne has been appointed Sri Lanka’s new Under 19 coach on a two-year contract set to run until the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. 

The former Sri Lanka Test Captain and World Cup winner takes over from Roy Dias.

Despite SLC interviewing six other candidates, Tillakaratne, a qualified level 3 coach, was always the frontrunner with his previous coaching experience with the national team - where he functioned as the team’s batting coach before being replaced by ThilanSamaraweera - believed to have been the deciding factor.

The decision to appoint him meanwhile had been taken by SLC’s now-defunct Executive Committee, but an official announcement had been delayed as a result of a chaotic couple of weeks. His most recent role meanwhile saw him coach Galle to the Four-day Super Provincial title, as well as the runners-up spot in the limited overs contest

Others up for the job were former national players Malinda Warnapura, ChamindaVaas, ThilinaKandamby and PrabathNissanka, as well as Harsha De Silva. While JeevanthaKulatunga, one of the individuals implicated in a pitch-fixing scandal by a recent Al Jazeera documentary, had also been interviewed for the role at one point.

Sri Lanka’s Under 19 team had a poor showing at the World Cup earlier this year in New Zealand as they were knocked out before the quarter-finals. As such,Tillekeratne knows he has his work cut out for him, but having worked with some of the players previously in his role as batting coach in SLC’s Khettarama-based Centre of Excellence, the 50-year-old has a clear idea of what he hopes to bring to the side.“I worked with some of the boys when the England Under 16 side was down, so I know some of them well,” Tillakaratne told the Daily FT. I’m also looking at improving some technical and tactical aspects as well going forward. But first of all I’m trying to bring in a new team culture, and get everyone playing for the team.”