Sports
Paul Farbrace to be Sri Lanka Head Coach
by Rex Clementine
Englishman Paul Farbrace is all set to be roped in as Sri Lanka’s Head Coach on a two year stint. The former wicketkeeper batsman is set to take up the new role later next month when the national cricket team tours India for a two match Test and three match T-20 series. Farbrace’s appointment will see Sri Lanka ending the headhunt for Mickey Arthur’s successor.
Arthur, extremely popular among local fans and players, ended his two year tenure in December last year. He was keen for an extension, however, Sri Lanka Cricket let Arthur go with a heavy heart as they felt that fresh ideas needed to come into the coaching set up.
The new coaching set up will be all Sri Lankan except for the Head Coach and Fielding Coach. The Cricket Advisory Committee comprising former captains Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan are said to be in discussions with a New Zealander to fill the role.
There were more than 30 applicants for the Head Coach’s position and Farbrace had not applied. However, the Cricket Advisory Committee were not satisfied with the response and started negotiating with other individuals.
Former Head Coach Graham Ford was the overwhelming choice to return for a third stint. However, the South African is believed to be having issues to move to Colombo at present. Ford under whom Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia 3-0 in Tests at home had not ruled out returning to Colombo although his early departure in 2017 was somewhat sour.
This left Farbrace the leading choice to fill Arthur’s shoes and SLC is set to sign the deal over the next couple of weeks.
Farbrace will not travel to Australia next month for the five match T-20 series. Rumesh Ratnayake will continue as Interim Coach.
Farbrace (54) from Ash-next-Sandwich in Canterbury had played First Class cricket for Kent and Middlesex and in 2005 joined SLC at the age of 37 as Assistant Coach to Trevor Bayliss.
SLC then appointed Frabrace as Head Coach in 2014 and in his first campaign – the T-20 World Cup in Bangladesh – he guided Sri Lanka to victory beating India in the final. However, immediately afterwards, he quit the job and joined English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as Assistant to Head Coach Trevor Bayliss. The manner in which Farbrace left made many unhappy. However, it is believed that ECB secretly paid SLC a sum to the tune of US$ 100,000 for snatching their Head Coach away.
The Island learns that SLC had told Farbrace to see through to his contract. Not many coaches anyway have been that lucky with SLC with the board ending their terms prematurely. Some coaches like Geoff Marsh took the board to courts and won the case in 2012 for wrongful termination of employment. The manner in which Cricket Advisory Committee has worked with coaches is commendable. They were not happy with the performances of certain coaches under Mickey Arthur last year, but rather than pulling the trigger, they patiently waited until the coaches finished their terms.
Although, the Cricket Advisory Committee was initially keen to appoint a local as the Head Coach, they seem to have deviated from their stance and brought in Farbrace.
Former Test cricketer Naveed Nawaz also will join the national team as assistant to Farbrace. Nawaz is currently with Bangladesh Cricket Board and although he is contracted till the end of the year, sources said that he is expected to get an early release.
One time is a shock. Two times, and the second to beat hosts Sri Lanka at their own game, is Zimbabwe. Led by their canny bowling, Zimbabwe pulled Sri Lanka back from a flying start to keep them to 178 on a sluggish Premadasa track. Their opener Brian Benett, quickest scorer in their history, dropped anchor, stayed unbeaten like his team, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani did all the damage from the other end to seal their second-highest successful T20I chase.
Sri Lanka’s innings had three neat divisions: first 29 balls for 54 for 0, next 72 for 82 for 4 and then a finishing kick of 42 for 3 off the last 19 balls. Zimbabwe went Bennett and non-Bennett. Bennett scored 63 off 48; the other three combined for 102 off 64 balls. Raza was the decisive hand: 45 off 26 after the asking rate had gone past 11.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 182 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Brian Bennett 63*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 34, Ryan Burl 23, Sikandar Raza 45; Dasun Shanaka 1-26, Dushan Hemantha 2-36, Dunith Wellalage 1-27) beat Sri Lanka 178 for 7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 62, Kusal Perera 22, Kusal Mendis 14, Pavan Rathnayake 44, Dunith Wellalage 15*; Blessing Muzarabani 2-38, Graeme Cremer 2-27, Brad Evans 2-35) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
West Indies headed into the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup unbeaten after successfully defending 165 against Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. Spinners Chrishan Kalugamage and Ben Manenti impressed with the ball, and were backed up by some sharp fielding, but the batters couldn’t get the Italian job done.
While Italy exited their maiden World Cup with a win against Nepal and many memories to cherish, West Indies sealed their fourth successive win at the venue where they will face India in their final Super Eight fixture on March 1.
Italy may have sensed an opportunity for another win when they stifled West Indies’ power-packed middle order, but Marrhew Forde’s twin strikes in the powerplay decisively tilted the game in West Indies’ favour. Bowling three overs on the bounce, Forde dismissed both Justin Mosca and No. 3 Syed Naqvi, helping West Indies restrict Italy to 37 for 3 in six overs. Shamar Joseph then bagged four wickets to go with his four catches as Italy were bowled out for 123.
The win was set up by Shai Hope, who hit back-to-back half-centuries and dominated the early exchanges with an array of off-side drives. West Indies lost steam after Hope departed for 75 off 46 balls, but they regained it through their bowlers.
After West Indies were asked to bat first, they hit seven boundaries in the powerplay, and Hope was responsible for all of those. By the eighth over, the West Indies captain had zoomed to a 28-ball half-century. The first boundary by a West Indies player not named “Shai Hope” came in the tenth over when Roston Chase backed away and lifted left-arm spinner JJ Smuts over extra-cover.
Hope peppered the off side, scoring 46 of his 75 runs in that region. Anything that was remotely full and outside off was crashed in the arc between mid-off and point. When Italy dragged their lengths back, Hope was ready for it as well. Like when left-arm seamer Ali Hasan banged one into his upper body, Hope swatted him away over square leg for six in the fourth over. Hope was particularly severe on right-arm fast bowler Thomas Draca, taking him for 20 off nine balls.
Italy finally stopped him in the 16th over when legspinner Kalugagame bowled him with a tossed-up wrong’un.
Brief scores:
West Indies 165 for 6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 75, Roston Chase 24, Sherfane Rutherford 24*, Matthew Forde 16*; Ali Hasan 1-24, Thomas Draca 1-22, Chrishan Kalugamage 2-25, Ben Manenti 2-37) beat Italy 123 in 18 overs (Anthony Mosca 19, JJ Smuts 24, Ben Manenti 26, Grant Stewart 12; Akeal Hosein 1-25, Shamar Joseph 4-30, Matthew Forde 3-19, Gudakesh Motie 2-24) by 42 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka won the toss at the party at Premadasa and decided to bat first. Both, the hosts and Zimbabwe, are through to the Super Eight already, but for Sri Lanka it was important to get in their injury replacements.
The big one, of course, was Matheesha Pathirana, whose tournament ended with a calf injury sustained during the match against Australia. His replacement in the squad, Dilshan Madushanka, came straight into the XI. Also given a look-in was Pramod Madushan, the fast bowler who was already in the squad. In order to organise this virtual bowl-off between Madushan and Madushanka, Sri Lanka rested their lead fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera.
Zimbabwe made no change to the XI that shocked Australia in this World Cup. They were looking to bowl first anyway because of the forecast for some drizzle later on, and hoping to bat in better batting conditions once the lights came on.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
[Cricinfo]
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