Silverwood sees great future for Pathirana

Sri Lanka Head Coach Chris Silverwood said that he saw a great future ahead for young fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana who won his first Player of the Match award in Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup match against Bangladesh which they won by five wickets at Pallekele on Thursday. 

“He bowled beautifully today. This performance was coming for a while now,” said Silverwood after Pathirana had taken a career best 4/32 to bowl out Bangladesh for 164. “He’s had some great experience in the IPL. He came to the World Cup qualifiers with us and he did a lot of work on how to bowl with the newer ball. We did a couple of tweaks, not so much his action but with his run up just to give him access to the stumps and we found he got more control through that.”

Silverwood praised the coaching staff in Sri Lanka for the hard work they put in towards making 20-year-old Pathirana the bowler he is today.

“Pathirana works very hard and he absorbs information very well. He does it his way which is great. He will continue to develop and it won’t be long before he’s got the new ball in his hand,” said Silverwood, a former fast bowler with England. “He’s got a big future. He is an exciting new prospect. We’ve seen him play on the big stage now. I just see him going from strength to strength.” – (ST)