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Wednesday, 4 December 2019 01:41 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Madushka Balasuriya
Sri Lanka Cricket has agreed on a two-year contract with Mickey Arthur to be the Head Coach of the national team, with a formal announcement set to be made shortly. Joining his backroom staff will be Grant Flower as batting coach, David Saker as bowling coach, and Shane McDermott as fielding coach, in what is a complete overhaul of the team’s coaching setup.
“They will all be joining on two-year contracts,” confirmed SLC CEO Ashley De Silva.Arthur is the 11th Head Coach of the Sri Lankan men’s team in the last eight years, and his first challenge will be a return to Pakistan where he had been head coach since 2016, though it is understood interim Head Coach Rumesh Ratnayake will also be on tour to help with the transition. The Pakistan Cricket Board removed Arthur as head coach earlier this year following a string of poor results, but his tenure had seen the team win the 2017 Champions Trophy as well as summit the T20I rankings, which is what had impressed SLC. Arthur has also coached the South African and Australian national teams in the past.
Flower joins Arthur’s backroom staff having vacated the Head Coach role at Bangladesh Premier League side Rangpur Rangers. Flower has a good working relationship with Arthur, having worked with him as Pakistan’s batting coach before he too was let go earlier this year.
Saker has worked as bowling coach for both England and Australia over the last ten years, before he took up the role of bowling coach with the USA earlier this year - one he has now left. McDermott was the first of the four new appointments to have come on board, with SLC securing his contract earlier this month on the recommendation of Cricket Australia. He had earlier served as the South Australia Cricket Association’s high-performance coach.
Despite the appointments, however, previous Sri Lanka Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha remains under contract with SLC.
