Deserving cricket coaches will be given their due -‘D. S.’

Jatila KARAWITA

CRICKET: The newly appointed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman and Presidential Advisor on cricket - D. Somachandra de Silva addressing his maiden press conference at the Board Headquarters last Wednesday (Mar. 18), said that under his stewardship measures will be taken to give budding coaches their due place.

He noted that cricket coaches ranging from grass roots level upto senior national level the ones, who bring in results - winning teams or churning out cricketers who can represent the national team, will be given a break to further reach out for greatness during one’s term of office.

“I have taken a firm decision that in future the post of Assistant Coach of the Sri Lanka cricket team will be filled by a local coach”, Somachandra de Silva told reporters at the SLC headquarters.

“An experienced domestic Tier `A’ coach with a proven track record can easily become the national team’s Assistant Coach.

“My committee’s prime aim is to provide the maximum exposure to top local coaches, who will be given the chance to make an impact or produce the goods at the highest level”, he said.

De Silva, a former right-arm leg-break bowler who represented the country during the formative years in international cricket, stated that the newly constituted SLC Interim Committee will also review the performances of the national team’s coaching staff by August this year, before either extending or terminating their current contracts.

Sri Lanka team’s coaching management consists of head coach Trevor Bayliss, Assitant Coach Paul Farbrace, Trainer Jade Roberts and Physiotherapist Tommy Simcek.

The new SLC Interim Committee head also added that work will be finalised to stage a Semi-Final match of the 2011 ICC World Cup at the Hambantota International Stadium which is currently funded by the `Tharunyata Hetak Foundation’, headed by the eldest son of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa.

The game’s showpiece tournament the World Cup, is scheduled to be held in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh jointly with the ICC, the sport’s world controlling body, yet to confirm whether any matches will be played in Pakistan after the March 3 Lahore terror attack on Sri Lanka team.

A former Sri Lanka cricketer captain D. S. de Silva, also denied claims to the effect that he has links with the gaming industry and stressed that he has only been married for the last 24-years to the daughter of leading bookmaker E. W. Balasuriya, and despite repeated suggestions by the media that according to the Sports Law and ICC regulations that any person cannot assume office with links directly or indirectly, “D.S.” shot back, saying that it can be presumed so, because he had been married to the daughter of E. W. Balasuriya, but he insisted that he had resigned bookmaker firm and has already washed his hands off from the gambling industry before being installed as the new Chairman of the SLC Caretaker Committee.

Meanwhile, another member of the IC Ranil Abeynaike told reporters that he, too, has stopped contributing articles to a Sunday Newspaper (not the ANCL Group) since being appointed to the seven-member panel.