Jayasuriya as stop gap head coach of national cricket team

Sanath Jayasuriya with former Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood 

• Till SLC finds suitable person to fill post vacated by Silverwood 

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Former Sri Lanka cricket Captain and national selector Sanath Jayasuriya has been appointed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) as interim head coach of the national cricket team until a suitable person is found to permanently fill the position left vacant by Chris Silverwood who resigned as head coach following Sri Lanka’s abysmal performance in the recent T20 World Cup in USA and West Indies.

Jayasuriya who has no previous experience of handling a team as a coach is presently SLC’s full time cricket consultant on a one-year contract overseeing the training and coaching requirements of all teams aligned with the High-Performance Centre (HPC). He accompanied the Sri Lanka team to the T20 World Cup as consultant.

Following his new appointment Jayasuriya will forego the role of consultant and take full charge of the national team as head coach.

Jayasuriya’s first assignment in his new role will be to prepare the Sri Lanka team against newly crowned T20 World Cup champions India who will be here to play a three-match T20I series commencing in Pallekele on 25 June and a three-match ODI series at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium ending on 9 August. He will also continue as interim coach for the three-Test series in England in August-September.

“By the time we finish the England series hopefully we should find someone, but we don’t want to rush it,” said SLC CEO Ashley de Silva. “We want to get the right person and Sanath is also capable. He definitely has the experience and knowledge to do it. We will also give him some support, get a person who knows the conditions and the batting side of it from England, assigned to help him out when the team goes there. We are in the process of talking to a few people, mainly we are looking at the batting. Aaqib Javed is there as the fast-bowling coach. He has the experience of playing in those conditions so we will continue with him. Sanath will also have the support of the local support staff.” Aaqib accompanied the Sri Lanka team to the T20 World Cup.

SLC already has Ruwan Kalpage as an interim head coach of the Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket team currently touring England. Kalpage who is attached to the High Performance Centre (HPC) is handling the Under-19 cricketers till SLC finds a permanent coach for the team.

 SLC didn’t extend Jehan Mubarak’s contract at the end of the last Under-19 World Cup but gave him a new role as head of Emerging and Development squad. 

“We have already advertised for the Under-19 coach’s position, and we have got some applications. We have also advertised for the national team’s head coach’s job. So far, we have not got any feedback, but we are head hunting to get someone,” said De Silva.