Sports

Silverwood’s methods have worked for Sri Lanka

Published

3 years ago

2022/10/2

By Rex Clementine

There were few murmurs when Chris Silverwood was hired as Sri Lanka’s Head Coach. The reason being that two months before SLC got him on board, the Yorkshireman had been sacked as Head Coach of England.

There are two types of coaches. Career coaches like John Buchanan, Dav Whatmore and Trevor Bayliss. Then there’s the other category, former players who get prominent coaching positions because of their standing in the game. Examples are Brendon McCullum, Mahela Jayawardene and Ravi Shastri. Silverwood falls to the former category. He was Essex’s coach when the County Championship retuned to Chelmsford after quarter of a century. Soon, ECB got interested and roped him in as Fast Bowling Coach.

There was World Cup success in 2019 and when Bayliss quit as Head Coach on a high, Silverwood was elevated to England’s top job. He did have a decent run. But once you lose the Ashes 4-0, there’s no way you are going to survive. He was sacked in February. He was quite powerful in England where the Head Coach is a selector as well. His policy of rest and rotate didn’t win him many admirers. The reason being that if you are to beat the Aussies, you have got to be at full strength. British press can be ruthless but in the case of Silverwood even the tabloids agreed on one thing; Silverwood is a decent, charming man.

You wondered how a decent man can succeed in the Sri Lankan system. Our most successful coaches have been Aussies with an aggressive approach like Whatmore and Tom Moody. Bayliss was quite successful as well but when you have Muralitharans, Jayasuriyas, Sangakkaras and Jayawardenes the coach has plenty of match winning options. Silverwood’s case was different. He inherited a young team. A team that was unsure of how to go about things. A team whose batting unit collapsed too often and a bowling unit that was frequently injured. There were off the field distractions as well.

Silverwood has been low key letting his players take the limelight. He’s not the type of person to express his emotions in public. He’s known as someone who is methodical and meticulous. Spends a lot of time in planning and remains a father figure to the players. But when he needs to be firm, he lets the players have it. Apparently during the tour of Bangladesh, when the fast bowlers were wayward with the new ball, he gave a piece of his mind to the quicks. Not sure how many of them understood the message though.On another occasion during the bilateral series against Australia, when a member of the support staff got too excited and was disrespecting the captain as emotions ran high, he put his foot down again saying there was no necessity to do that.

It’s been an impressive six months for Silverwood. When Mickey Arthur vacated his position in December, those who were entrusted to headhunt a coach weren’t looking beyond Graham Ford and Paul Farbrace. Ford is an excellent choice but there are other coaches who are capable of contributing as well. Silverwood has proved it. He has won Tests against Australia and Pakistan, won an ODI series against Australia and the biggest of them all was the Asia Cup win.

To win five games in a row in T-20 format, that too beating world’s number one and number two ranked teams, is no mean task. Australia was Silverwood’s lowest point in coaching. That was last year. He has a few things to prove to the Aussies and watching young Sri Lankans competing in the World Cup will be exciting.

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Ranaweera’s four-for leads Sri Lanka to tense win over West Indies

Published

13 hours ago

2026/02/21

Priyan

Inoka Ranaweera returned figures of 4 for 44 [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the ODI series with a tense ten-run win over West Indies, thanks largely to a match-defining performance from Inoka Ranaweera.

After being asked to bat, Sri Lanka posted 240 for 6, built on half-centuries from Hasini Perera (61 off 86) and Harshitha Samarawickrema (66 off 105). Captain Chamari Athapaththu made 27, while useful middle-order contributions from Nilakshika Silva and Kavisha Dilhari kept the innings moving at a controlled rate. A late cameo from Dewmi Vihanga, who struck 14 off six balls, ensured Sri Lanka pushed towards a competitive total in St George’s in Grenada.

But it was Ranaweera who tilted the contest. The experienced left-arm spinner returned figures of 4 for 44 from her ten overs. She removed the No. 3 Shemaine Campbelle cheaply, dismissed Chinelle Henry soon after, and then returned to break the dangerous stand of 89 between Stefanie Taylor and Jannillea Glasgow in the 40th over, just as West Indies were threatening to surge ahead. Ranaweera also accounted for Shawnisha Hector at the death.

Taylor’s 66 off 83 balls and Glasgow’s 50 off 67 had revived West Indies from early setbacks, and with Aaliyah Alleyne in the middle, the chase remained alive deep into the game. West Indies needed 18 from the last two overs, and 12 from the last six balls. However, Sri Lanka’s spinners held firm, with Dilhari finishing with three wickets, including two in the final over, to complement Ranaweera’s starring role.

West Indies were eventually bowled out for 230 in 49.4 overs. Sri Lanka have now won four of their last five ODIs against West Indies since 2017.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women 240 for 6 in 50 overs (Harshitha Samarawickrama 66, Hasini Perera 61; Hayley Matthews 2-46, Karishma Ramharak 2-57) beat West Indies Women 230 in 49.4 overs (Stefanie Taylor 66, Jannillea Glasgow 50; Inoka Ranaweera 4-44, Kavish Dilhari 3-49) by ten runs

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Sharada, Kithma join to trouble Richmond

Published

18 hours ago

2026/02/21

Thilina Walpola

Left arm spinner Sharada Jayaratne took bowling honours of the day’s Under 19 cricket encounters as he took six wickets for Ananda to restrict Richmond to 168 runs in the traditional match at Ananda Mawatha.

‎Richmond were strongly placed at one stage with Risinu Rupasinghe (40) and Senuk Dulneth adding 91 runs for the first wicket. But when skipper Kithma Widanapathirana broke the stand, Richmond collapsed. Kithma and Sharada shared all ten wickets to fall.

‎In response the home team were 37 for three wickets at stumps with Vihanga Mihiranga inflicting early dammage.

‎At Darley Road, Wesley had a promising start with openers Shamma Fernando and Rasheed Nahyan putting on 58 runs for the first wicket before Nushan Perera and Sri Lanka Under 19 spinner Vigneswaran Akash shared seven wickets between them to restrict the Campbell Park team to 161 runs.

‎In reply St. Joseph’s reached 74 for no loss at stumps. The Joes amassed those runs in just 12.1 overs with Aveesha Samash hammering an unbeaten 53 in 38 balls (6x4s, 4x6s).

‎At De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa, Mahanama posted 350 for nine wickets declared against Prince of Wales as Dulnith Sigera (74), Eshan Withanage (71n.o.) and Sineth Veerarathne (59) made half centuries.

‎For the Cambrians Nethul Anuhas took five wickets.

by Reemus Fernando

Sports

We are seeing something special in Pavan Rathnayake – Mathews

Published

18 hours ago

2026/02/21

Thilina Walpola

Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews believes the islanders have unearthed a gem in Pavan Rathnayake, backing the 23-year-old middle-order batter to scale the game’s highest peaks.

Drafted into the World Cup squad at the eleventh hour, Rathnayake has wasted little time in justifying the selectors’ leap of faith. While much of the spotlight has rightly fallen on Pathum Nissanka’s match-winning heroics, the youngster has quietly gone about his business, compiling runs with poise and a range of strokes that suggest he belongs on this stage.

Rathnayake’s inclusion was no shot in the dark. Sri Lanka’s struggles against spin had been laid bare in the lead-up to the tournament and the think tank sought a batter who could milk the tweakers rather than get tied in knots. Rathnayake ticked that box emphatically, earning praise from batting coach Vikram Rathour for the way he used his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and employed soft hands to manoeuvre the field.

Mathews, who has long advocated fast-tracking the youngster into the senior set-up, said the signs were unmistakable.

“We are seeing someone special in Pavan Rathnayake,” Mathews told Telecom Asia Sport.

“I have seen him in close quarters and what impressed me most is his temperament. If he gets a start, he will go on to get a big hundred. I rate him very highly. The manner in which he plays spin is remarkable. He can both use his feet and rock back as well. He is a huge find for Sri Lanka and the world will start talking about him as we move on,” he added.

Mathews reserved special praise for the youngster’s mental steel, a trait he believes separates the run-of-the-mill from the truly elite.

“Pavan has a cool head and is so good to watch when he is on song. He is a man of few words, but mentally a very tough bloke and that’s what separates good players from great ones. I have no doubt he can go on to become a great,” Mathews said.

Sri Lanka became the first side to book their ticket to the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup after a stirring win over Australia, a result that sent fans into raptures and put the former champions back in the reckoning.

They begin their Super Eight campaign on Sunday against England, returning to a contest that promises high voltage and little margin for error.

On paper, Sri Lanka appear to have most bases covered. But the injury list has thrown a spanner in the works. Eshan Malinga, Wanindu Hasaranga and Matheesha Pathirana have all been ruled out, forcing the selectors into three replacements and leaving the bowling attack short on experience at the business end.

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