By Madushka Balasuriya

When Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced the recruitment of Simon Willis as High Performance Manager in late May, the national side were still licking their wounds following a heavy innings defeat at the hands of England in the first Test of their English tour. 

Meanwhile back at home, Willis’ appointment, which had ended a 23-year association with English county side Kent, was afforded lukewarm treatment at best by local media who were curious over the exact the nature of his newly-created post.

Yet despite this low-key introduction to the collective Sri Lankan cricketing psyche, his appointment may just turn out to be the most crucial when it comes to preserving the longterm health of the sport in the cricket-mad island.

“This new role, from my perspective, is one of the most important roles in Sri Lankan cricket,” Willis boldly stated in his first meeting with the press upon official taking up the role. “Without it you might not have top class players in the future.” “From my understanding there’s been a small disconnect between the national team and what goes on underneath,” he continued, “I see myself as the glue that links those two things together.”

Along with his 23 years working with Kent, Willis has also done considerable work for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). At the age of 29 he received a Level 4 coaching certificate from the ECB - the youngest ever coach to be bestowed with one - and he also headed up the level 4 wicketkeeping module with Steve Rhodes and former Sri Lanka coach Paul Farbrace. 

“I’ve started early and I’ve always had a real passion for the game. For me the number one priority will be finding people who are passionate about what they do, fully committed and willing to do whatever it takes to improve things.”

Holistic approach

Willis’ first job will be to review every aspect of the coaching structure in place currently, right through to the district and provincial levels. He is of the belief that a holistic approach needs to be implemented, where all of the work done with players below the national team level - such as those in the A team and U-19 squads - prepare them for “an easy transition” into an international environment.

“This is not just about improving cricket skills. It might be travelling overseas, as people might struggle being away from home for long periods; it might be playing in different conditions, like we’ve seen in England recently with the swinging ball. We have to expose our players earlier to those experiences and hopefully that will allow that transition to be a lot quicker.” A major part of this process, Willis believes, will come down to a change in attitude from Sri Lankan coaches. He expects them to be seen “out and about” on the ground, whether that be at provincial or club games. He also wants more communication between coaches at all levels. “We need to learn from those people specialising at the grassroots level. The flow of information can’t just be top down. “Players have relationships with coaches on a day-to-day basis. The more a player can trust the coach the better chance you’ve got of getting that player to play to their potential.”

As part of his initial overhaul, Willis will also be looking to get in touch with all stakeholders involved with cricket in Sri Lanka to figure out how to better identify, develop and prepare players for international cricket.

“We need to get the legends of the game, we need to ask them questions about what they did in their development, what was it that made them successful. And we need to pass that knowledge on to our players coming through the system. “What does ‘good’ look like for a Sri Lankan legend? 

“It’s skills, yes, but also it’s character. When the going gets tough are they gonna come through? We need to expose players to environments where they can be assessed; environments such as spinning wickets, bouncy wickets, it might be hot weather or cold weather, we’ve got to find those environments as early as possible and expose our players to it.”

More overseas tours

In this context, he is pleased to hear that nine A team tours have been organised over the next three years. “Tough cricket abroad,” according to Willis, is crucial to the development of young players. “From my English experience, coming to Asia and playing in Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan it was always a massive challenge for England.

“I think now that has become more comfortable for various reasons, and I think the more tours we can get abroad for our young players, the more those transitions will become a lot easier.”

He adds that practicing in the nets and at indoor facilities will never match the experience gained in competitive matches. “We’ve got to create bumps in the road. For me players have to make mistakes to improve. They have to experience failure at a young age. The pathway to success isn’t a straight-line. If you get a schoolboy cricketer who has dominated all the way through and then fails at the international level, then we haven’t done our job well enough as coaches.

“People always look at the skills and, yes, that always will come at the top of the tree. But if you haven’t got those things underpinning it, then your skills will go under pressure and crumble during those lean periods.”

Central Database

A key part of this will be to streamline the scouting system. Willis hopes to make Sri Lanka’s like that of England’s, which he describes as “the best in the world.” “We need to see a player over a number of years, in different environments, in different formats of the game. Then you can to build a much bigger picture on where that player is going.”

Crucial to accomplishing this will be newly announced SLC Brain Centre. The high-tech player data collection centre announced earlier this week will allow him and his team to identify certain trends and traits when it comes to players. “It might be that players only play white-ball cricket and not red-ball cricket. Why is that? It might be that guys are better playing at home than away. It’s up to us as coaches to identify players’ needs and make sure we’re putting things in place for them.

“This central database will give us the facts rather than just the opinions. With the facts we can make better informed decisions going forward.” This player-centric approach is the foundation upon which Willis’ philosophy of player development is built. His high performance model starts with players nurturing a sense of team, as well as self-awareness.

“We all walk differently, we talk differently. So why can’t we all play cricket differently? Understanding yourself and knowing what you do when you play at your best is crucial.”

Succession planning

Another major problem facing cricket in Sri Lanka at the moment is a distinct lack of the depth in quality. This has been a problem highlighted now for several years, and exacerbated by the twin retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. According to Willis, a ‘Player Pathway’ will be put in place to provide an oversupply of players to the national side.

“We need more players than just one or two. We need to create competition. We want players banging down the door to get into that national team. Both men’s and women’s. 

“But they have got to be capable of winning matches on a consistent basis, not just once every two or three years. It’s all about consistency. 

«The departments that will come in, in my area, will make sure that we produce a Player Pathway that is seamless to the national team. We should be planning two or three years ahead, seeing the potential retirements of players, or seeing the potential gaps in our national team and working really hard to fill those gaps as a natural process, not just as a reaction.” Willis believes focusing on developing all-round cricketers with multiple skill sets is an important contingency when looking at increasing depth in selection.

“If we can go on to the field with multi-skilled players then we have a better chance of beating the opposition. We want highly skilled players, of course; your Muralitharan’s are world class. But if we haven›t got world class then we need multi-skilled players at international level.”

2019 World Cup

Willis’ contract ends in three years, at the end of the 2019 World Cup in England. By then he hopes to have put the foundations in place where Sri Lanka cricket will have the means to produce to a steady stream of talented players, with a new breed of coaches carrying forward his plans.

“For me to go to England with a team competing for the World Cup, that will be very exciting. And to have two of three players that all these guys have worked with or brought through the system in that time, will be a tick in the box for me.” Asked what attracted him to the job in the first place, he said it was the enthusiasm of the board that helped him make his mind up. His connections to Sri Lanka are also numerous, having worked with Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga at Kent, while also having longstanding relationships with Aravinda de Silva and Graham Ford.

“I’ve always been interested in how Sri Lankan cricket has produced those unorthodox players, yet the technical book says you shouldn’t do it that way.

“When I spoke to the board I was really enthused by what they had to say. I was very excited by the vision that they had for the game in this country. And for them putting their hands up and identifying a need.  “They could have easily just carried on but they were big enough to say ‘no, we need to sort this out for the long term good of Sri Lanka cricket.’ For me that was a massive draw.”

Bandara called in for Chameera for third Test

ESPNCricinfo: Uncapped left-arm seamer Chaminda Bandara has been called in as a replacement for the injured Dushmantha Chameera in Sri Lanka’s squad for the third Test against England at Lord’s. His selection follows Chameera’s lower-back injury, which ruled him out for the rest of the England tour.

Bandara, 29, will leave for England with Kusal Perera, who replaced injured seamer Dhammika Prasad; both players will be available for selection for the Lord’s Test, which starts from 9 June.

“Bandara has been performing well domestically and he is the best choice available at the time for the English conditions,” chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said.

Sri Lanka will also wait for the results of tests on Shaminda Eranga’s bowling action, which will take place on 6 June. Eranga’s action had been reported after the second Test, at Chester-Le-Street. If the tests conclude that Eranga’s action is illegal, he will barred from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect.

Bandara was not in the preliminary squad for the tour, but leapfrogs Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha into the Test squad, thanks largely to his domestic experience. He was also the most successful seam bowler in this year’s first-class tournament, taking 33 wickets at an average of 26.30 for Ports Authority Cricket Club. He has played 51 first-class matches in all, taking 141 wickets at an average of 29.85.