Wednesday, 17 September 2014 00:00
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ESPNCricinfo: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will seek to appoint a permanent head coach by the end of the month, in order to provide certainty around the position ahead of England’s tour in November, the Board’s Chief Executive Ashley de Silva has said.
The team is set to play seven ODIs against England from November 26, as part of the build-up to the 2015 World Cup. Sri Lanka also have a full tour of New Zealand in December and January.
“We have short-listed nine from the 15 applications we received for the post,” de Silva said. “They will be interviewed on Skype during the course of this week by the committee appointed to pick the candidate.
“We hope to finish the interviews by the end of the week and prune the list down further before inviting them to come to Sri Lanka and make their representations,” he said.
The 11-member committee that will recommend the next coach includes Chief Selector Sanath Jayasuriya, Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga and Head of Coaching Jerome Jayaratne.
Former Captain Marvan Atapattu is the only Sri Lankan applicant in the shortlist of nine. Atapattu was Interim Head Coach of Sri Lanka for their last three Test series against England, South Africa and Pakistan and is understood to be a frontrunner, along with Middlesex Batting Coach Mark Ramprakash. But Ramprakash had played down his interest in the Sri Lanka job, telling the Guardian: “I was asked whether I would be interested in the Sri Lanka coaching position and I said, ‘I’m happy to hear what the job entails.’ Since that point - about seven weeks ago - I’ve not spoken to anyone from Sri Lanka Cricket.”
He spoke positively about Sri Lanka’s set-up, though. “Having toured there in January and February with the Lions I’m full of admiration for the Sri Lanka set-up and their passion and energy. I thought their facilities were excellent and they are desperate to keep improving. Sri Lankans realise there are great parts of the country that have a lot of natural talent they have not tapped into yet.”
Sri Lanka have 14 ODIs and two Tests scheduled in all, before they play the World Cup curtain-raiser against New Zealand on February 14. The coach-recommendation committee may also consider appointing a short-term coach, to take the team through to the end of the World Cup only.
