Sports
Let’s make most of local coaches
Rex Clementine at Pallekele
Sri Lankan cricket has been ahead of times compared to some of our Asian neighbours over the years. In our formative years, Gamini Dissanayake was convinced that the team needed a foreign coach and quite a few of them were hired including Sir Garry Sobers to help the team in early days. At a time when the board was penniless, Mr. Dissanayake had businessmen around him like Killy Rajamahendran to fund these foreign coaches.
For about a decade then, several former local players managed the affairs of the team. Then in 1994 when visionary board chairman Ana Punchihewa took over, he felt the need to have a foreign coach again. He wanted to bring in Dav Whatmore, but he was going to cost the board US$ 100,000 annually. SLC at that point had a grand bank balance of Rs. 400,000.
It is not known to many that Mr. Punchihewa’s visionary project was funded by the Australian Cricket Board. Sri Lanka were going to tour Australia in 1995 and were getting a guarantee fee of US$ 100,000. The Aussies doubled the guarantee fee and as a result the board could afford Whatmore. It is well-documented how he changed the fortunes of the team.
In recent years, we have had a few local Head Coaches. Roy Dias was at the helm when Sri Lanka won a Test match in England for the first time in 1998 and Marvan Atapattu was in charge when Sri Lanka recorded a first ever series win in England in 2014.
Between those periods we have had some excellent foreign coaches. There was Tom Moody, a brilliant man manager and Trevor Bayliss, who brought the best of several star players. Both of them took the team to the World Cup finals and stepped down.
Under incumbent Chris Silverwood, the results maybe not very much in favour of him, but what he has done is to develop an excellent set of fast bowlers. Fast bowling is one area that has shown tremendous improvement in recent years credit to the former Yorkshire quick.
India were very late to obtain the services of a foreign coach. New Zealander John Wright was their first foreign coach in 2001 and since then they have had the likes of Greg Chappell, Duncan Fletcher and Gary Kirsten.
But currently, India’s almost entire coaching staff is local. The only foreigner in their ranks is our own Nuwan Seneviratne, a throw down specialist.
Can Sri Lanka be self-sufficient too moving forward? Some of the foreign coaching staff that we have hired in recent years have been well below par.
There was a hue and cry when they brought down a fielding coach two years ago claiming he is one of the best. But it turned out to be we were taken for a ride. The national cricket team’s fielding was horrendous in the recently concluded World Cup where they spilled as many as 16 catches. The drop catches cost them dearly and the team finished ninth in the tournament and were knocked out of the Champions Trophy.
A lot of people tend to agree that we may need a foreigner as Head Coach. Nobody is denying it. Maybe you can get a qualified physiotherapist as well from overseas, but rest, surely, the locals can manage. Since the arrival of Upul Chandana as Fielding Coach, the players are showing more energy on the field and his creative drills are a treat to watch indeed.
Recently, we recruited a spin bowling coach by the name of Craig Howard. You tend to think that in a country that has produced some quality spin bowlers, surely we should be able to hire someone locally. Rangana Herath is into coaching and you wonder whether he is available to do a stint. Apart from his expertise on spin bowling, the cool-headed Herath will be ideal to the dressing room atmosphere.
This is not an effort to run down Howard. Maybe he’ll be able to help our spinners. It remains to be seen. But the fact is we have made some poor choices with our foreign coaches in recent years. The fielding coach is a case in point.
SLC needs to be commended for they have hardly interfered with recommendations of our former captain who has been calling the shots on cricket-related matters for close to three years now. But all his choices haven’t been top-notch. There have been some very ordinary ones. Let’s make the most of local coaches. And save some dollars.
Olympian Yupun Abeykoon’s 60 metres Indoor National record is among several national indoor records under threat when Sri Lanka’s top sprinters vie for honours at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing China from today.
The country’s athletes do not get many chances to take part in indoor competitions. Most of the current national indoor records are owned by athletes who were based in Europe or USA when the records were established. Italy based sprinter Abeykoon established the current national indoor 60 metres record of 6.59 second in 2021.
With a world class field around him and a faster track providing support Chamod Yodasinghe is looking forward to improving his personal best (6.63secs) which is just four milliseconds behind Abeykoon’s national record. “Events in the magnitude of World Championships are conducted on tracks that support faster performances. We look forward for several record breaking performances,” Yodasinghe’s coach Sanjeewa Weerakkody told ‘The Island’ before the team’s departure to Nanjing.
Weerakkody is also the coach cum manager of the Sri Lanka team for Nanjing.
Former Royal College hurdler Kaveesha Bandara is the current national record holder in the 60 metres hurdles. His outdoor record mark of 7.80 seconds is faster than Chaminda Fonseka’s 1998 indoor record of 7.90 seconds.
Similarly Kalinga Kumarage too will be eager to lower legendary Sugath Thilakaratne’s indoor record mark of 46.70 seconds.
With this competition offering high points for top performances all three will be aiming at improving their rankings as well in a World Championship year.
The men’s 4×400 metres indoor national record is another record that is under serious threat. The current national indoor record of 3:11.29 established at the Asian Indoor Championship in Macau in 2007 will be on the back of Kumarage’s mind when he anchors the event in the final.
It will be the first time the country’s women’s 4×400 team will be running at an indoor championships. Whatever the time produced by the quartet anchored by Nadeesha Ramanayake will become a national record.
The Sri Lanka women’s 4×400 team will vie against the US, Poland, China, India and Australia teams. The US team is the undisputed favourites. According to World Athletics USA’s squad features three of the four women that earned 4x400m silver in Glasgow last year – Alexis Holmes, Bailey Lear and Quanera Hayes – along with Rosey Effiong, Karimah Davis and Maya Singletary.
by Reemus Fernando
Bangladesh’s veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has finally been cleared of suspect action after suffering months of negativity regarding the same. The 37-year-old had failed the test twice but the latest results suggest that Shakib has finally managed to clear the air around his bowling action.
The development comes as a huge sigh of relief for Shakib who had been excluded for Bangladesh’s Champions Trophy squad as the selectors didn’t want to pick him as a specialist batter. Having been suspended to bowl meant that the all-rounder couldn’t take part of the ICC event which had been earmarked as a farewell tournament for him in international cricket.
The phrase third-time lucky proved right for Shakib who cleared his latest bowling action test in England. When contacted by Cricbuzz, he confirmed the news with an understandable air of happiness.
“The news is right (passing about the bowling test) and I am cleared to bowl again,” Shakib said.
Shakib’s bowling action first came under scrutiny during a County Championship match for Surrey against Somerset in September 2024. Subsequently, the England and
Wales Cricket Board [ECB] suspended him following an independent evaluation that declared his action illegal.
Shakib then underwent two separate reassessments, first in England and then in India, failing both attempts, following which he was suspended from bowling.
Sri Lanka at World Indoor Athletics Championships
In the absence of Aruna Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage is shouldering an extra burden in living up to the reputation of Asian Champions in the 4×400 metres relay when the World Indoor Championship commences in Nanjing China on Friday.
The men’s 400 metres is Sri Lanka’s biggest strength in track and field events though two javelin throwers currently dominate world athletics top lists for the 2025 season. With the track and field season still in its start, the country’s top sprinters were yet to flex their muscles when the opportunity arose for the 400 metres sprinters to compete at the World Indoor Championships.
Kalinga Kumarage
Kumarage is the only experienced campaigner in the men’s 4×400 metres relay team scheduled to compete against world leading USA, Jamaica, Hungary, Nigeria and China in the men’s 4×400 metres final. Both Aruna Dharshana and Kalinga Kumarage had been involved in some of the fastest relay performances for Sri Lanka at international arena including the Asian Games, Asian Championship and Asian Relays. But Dharshana is not available for the event as he is currently competing in Australia. Kumarage is the only member from the gold winning team at last year’s Asian Relays competing in Nanjing. However, it will be a huge opportunity for Randima Madushan and the two juniors Sadew Rajakaruna and Omel Shashintha when they brush shoulders against top sprinters in a global final.
Apart from the relay, Kalinga will also compete in the men’s 400 metres where he will look to produce a top performance in a bid to improve his rankings.
Sri Lanka is fielding its biggest contingent to a world indoor championship this year. The team is inclusive of sprinter Chamod Yodasinghe who will compete in the 60 metres, hurdler Kaveesha Bandara (60 m hurdles) and the men’s and women’s 4×400 metres relay teams.
***
Rajakaruna clarifies on behalf of Dharshana
Asanka Rajakaruna, the coach of leading 400 metres specialist Aruna Djarshana said that his charge was unaware of the 4×400 metres relay invitation extended by World Athletics to Sri Lanka for this week’s World Indoor Championships.
He said this with reference to our article on Tuesday which quoted a Sri Lanka Athletics official as having said that Dharshana had decided to stay in Australia to complete his commitments and was not available for the World Indoor Championships.
“We were not informed about the World Indoor Championships. We have always given priority to national duty. Dharshana would have taken the opportunity with open arms had he been informed of the opportunity to compete at the World Indoor Championship,” Asanka Rajakaruna told The Island.
Sri Lanka received the invitation to include relay teams for the World Indoor Championships well after Aruna Dharshana left for Australia.
by Reemus Fernando
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