Sisira Handunge's coaching well received by cricketers in Southern
Province
by Priyan DE SILVA - Matara Sports Corr.
CRICKET: Here's a lover of cricket, 59 year-old Sisira Handunge has
devoted a major part of his life for the promotion of cricket, first as
a player and then as a coach.
He started as a wicket-keeper-batsman at his school St. John's
College, Panadura, first eleven team for five years, ending up as
skipper in 1969.
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The on-drive for the left-handed batsman.... Sisira Handunge
shows the boys the correct technique. Picture by Priyan de
Silva - Matara Sports Corr. |
Then he moved forward and represented Panadura Sports Club, both in
division two and then division one and led the team for three
consecutive years.
After playing very serious cricket, he then got on to the next step
of teaching others what he learnt.
He coached St. John's Panadura, Royal College Panadura, Sri Sumangala
Panadura and Richmond College, Galle.
From that stage, Sisira joined Sri Lanka Cricket as District Coach
Kalutara in 1996. The keenness that he put in for his work was
recognised by the higher authorities and he was appointed Southern
Provincial Coach in 1998 and held that post for six years.
Handunge's knowledge of the finer points of the game was recognised
and he was taken over by the Asian Cricket Academy and he was enlisted
as a coach in Malaysia for a year in 2006. However, he loved Sri Lanka
much and he came back and rejoined Sri Lnaka Cricket in 2007 as District
coach, Kalutara. He somewhat got a promotion for his good work and was
appointed as Southern Provincial Coach in 2010 and he serves in that
capacity right now.
Sisira Handunge has a wide area to cover - Galle, Matara and
Hambantota and he is doing a fine job in teaching the young players all
what they need to know. He also has been entrusted the task of picking
players and entrusting the talented players to various coaches with the
future in mind.
The quality of Handunge's coaching has been recognised by many
followers of the game and one cricketer who has gained much from his
coaching has been a newcomer to the Sri Lanka squad Chamara Silva who
was at Royal College, Panadura during Handunge's coaching stint.
Southern Province is lucky to have a coach like Sisira Handunge who
devotes a lot of his time to the schoolboys to teach them the finer
points of the game.
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