Can Silverwood be the silver lining for Sri Lanka?

by Rex Clementine

When Chris Silverwood succeeded Paul Grayson as Essex’s Head Coach in 2016, the English county was in doldrums. They had been relegated to Division Two for a while and there was little hope for the Chelmsford club, half hour’s train journey from London King’s Cross Station. Silverwood with his hands on approach and close rapport with the players turned things around for Essex. A county that didn’t have many stars was promoted to Division One in his first year in charge having won the Division Two title. Twelve months later, things got even better. Essex were top of the table in Division One and went onto win their first County title in 25 years having last won the title under Graham Gooch in 1992. Sri Lanka will be hoping for a similar fairytale under their British coach; help them to come out of their current slide and become a strong force in the sport again.

At the moment, there’s little trust between Sri Lanka’s senior players and the management. Pay cuts, strenuous fitness standards and unclear selection policies have driven the two parties into extremes. In Silverwood, players will find someone whom they can trust. He will make lots of friends, helping players to be their best and his reviews will be honest. Not all coaches are the same. Dav Whatmore and Tom Moody didn’t mince any words and there were lots of shouting around during net sessions. That’s the typical Aussie way. With Silverwood, players will find an approach similar to that of Graham Ford, a father figure who will back them to the hilt.

Some observers of Sri Lankan cricket aren’t too happy with the Silverwood appointment for the obvious reason that he had been just sacked as England coach after their disastrous Ashes campaign down under. They say that being a selector is a thankless job. Being a coach is cut throat business. When you win, everyone wants part of the credit. When you lose, it’s simple, ‘sack the coach’. As John F. Kennedy rightly said, ‘Victory has a thousand fathers. Defeat is an orphan.’

Silverwood’s first task as Sri Lanka Head Coach is to oversee fitness tests of 18 players selected to tour Bangladesh. The test is scheduled for Monday. He’s expected to continue Mickey Arthur’s tough fitness regime. Then the players will leave for Bangladesh in the first week of May for a two match Test series. He’s got a tough seven month schedule as Sri Lanka will host Australia and Pakistan in all format series including four Test matches. There will be a brief break for Silverwood as players will be released for the Lanka Premier League. That will be followed by the Asia Cup at home and the World Cup in Australia followed by the tour of New Zealand.

The national cricket team has faced an uphill task trying to rebuild in the last seven months. Marvan Atapattu, Graham Ford and Chandika Hathurusinghe all had to leave before their term ended as the team failed to turn things around. There was a brief resurgence under Mickey Arthur as he helped a young team develop and unearthed several young talents. Silverwood’s task is to take the team to the next level after Arthur’s impressive rebuilding process. Several young players like Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pathum Nissanka, Praveen Jayawickrama and Ramesh Mendis have had superb starts to their careers. Some seniors like Dimuth Karunaratne, Dasun Shanaka and Dushmantha Chameera are performing at their peak. There are of course other talents like Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Bhanuka Rajapaksa who have not done justice to their immense talents. It remains to be seen how the new coach puts the pieces in places moving forward. It was said that during Arthur’s tenure, the language barrier was an issue. SLC has addressed that problem by placing Naveed Nawaz as Assistant Coach. We are going to see the best of Sri Lankan side in the next few months.