Thilina Kandamby: The cricket coach with the Midas touch

• “Kandy made the mistake of inviting us to bat first”: Kandamby

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Since playing his last ODI match for his country in 2014 and his last first-class game for SSC in 2016, Thilina Kandamby has come a long way in cricket and today finds himself as one of the most successful cricket coaches the country has at the moment.

Kandamby has been the coach of the Jaffna Kings side who have won the first two editions of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) and on Saturday guided Jaffna to win the National Super League Limited Over final against a Kandy side that had beaten them twice quite convincingly in the round robin league stage.

Kandy was the superior team going into the final, but Jaffna surprised them when it mattered most to pull off a 37-run victory.

“Kandy made a mistake by putting us into bat first. I feel that in a final it is crucial to bat first because you can put some pressure on the opponents,” Kandamby told Daily FT. “Maybe because the conditions at that time were cloudy and gloomy, they chose to bowl first. We always thought that 250 plus is defendable with our bowling, we have a good pace attack.” Jaffna scored 258 and dismissed Kandy for 221.

“I told my boys we were the underdogs and that we had nothing to lose. We were good enough to reach the final, just go and enjoy yourself. This young boy (Dunith) Wellalage took the responsibility and he batted very well,” said Kandamby.

Wellalage, the Sri Lanka Under-19 World Cup captain held the Jaffna innings together to top score in the match with a well-paced innings of 74 off 87 balls to take the Man of the Final award.

“Forget about his cricketing part, Wellalage is a good fighter with a good cricketing brain. At this young age in a final, in a pressure match he never felt the pressure, he was controlling the game. Those are good signs for the future,” noted Kandamby.

Talking of his success as a cricket coach Kandamby said: “From my point of view, I have a lot of patience with the boys and also the freedom they have. I have created an atmosphere where they can express themselves, their views and we respect that. It’s not about rocket science but I have created a free atmosphere, that’s the success. 

“When you come to a tournament like this, I don’t know the names of most of the boys because they are coming from several clubs. There is a limited amount of time to work on their skills so it’s always about talking, about the mindset. That is what I am doing at the moment and it has been successful.”

Reflecting back on his coaching experience Kandamby stated: “After school (he was a brilliant left-hand batsman at Ananda College) I joined Sampath Bank and worked for 15 years and when I retired, I quit my job as well. I went to coach Royal College, Colombo for two years (2016 and 2017) and since 2018 I have been the coach of SSC.”

With Kandamby at the helm to guide them SSC has won many finals in domestic cricket. “We have won a 50-over tournament, an Emerging tournament and currently we are the T20 champions. Unfortunately for the last couple of years we couldn’t play the major three-day tournament.”

“Being a coach of SSC is also a disadvantage because the best players are not always available due to national duty. That is the challenge that we have at the club. Since the 1970s when I played for SSC it has been that. So, I know the culture and it helps me a lot. It’s all about preparations. This year has been really challenging because of the National Super League (NSL). We are losing a lot of players to the NSL teams.”

“While I was playing and was the captain of SSC it was the same situation as most of the players were playing for the national team. When I was dropped from the national side and I was playing club cricket, I still used to somehow get together with the youngsters and win trophies for the club.”

“I realised that I had this skill to bring everyone together. I thought that I should get myself educated in coaching, so while I was still playing, I did my Level 2 in Australia. When I started coaching there were cricketers who played with me at SSC but I somehow managed to keep them under me with the youngsters. That is the key point.”

Kandamby did his Level 1 in coaching in Sri Lanka, Level 2 in Australia and Level 3 under the ICC.

When questioned whether he had any interest in taking up a coaching assignment with the national teams, 39-year-old Kandamby replied that he needed more experience.

“I have applied for the ‘A’ team job and for the position of batting coach. The reason is when I started coaching, I never coached under someone. I like to get some experience with hierarchy coaches. I didn’t have that opportunity, that’s why I thought of going to the national set up. There will be a foreign coach or someone, under whom I can gather more experience. Experience means a couple of years.”

In the meantime, Kandamby will continue his success as a coach with the local teams.