Empowering local coaches

by Rex Clementine

One of the key entities of Sri Lanka Cricket is the coaching department that functions away from the board headquarters at R. Premadasa Stadium for practical reasons. The board made a key policy decision this week appointing several local coaches into leading positions. A few years ago, the trend seemed to be entrusting foreign coaches with important positions. However, taking a leaf out of Board of Control for Cricket in India, SLC has empowered local coaches. One of the main reasons for the policy change is the language barrier between foreign coaches and local players. Plus, the authorities are confident that our coaches are quite capable of shaping the players and help them develop. This certainly is a step in the right direction.

One of the brilliant moves that has been done is to bring back a proven coach like Sampath Perera. His achievements at Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC), D.S. Senanayake College and Trinity College speaks for itself. Many are the players whom he identified and groomed. He will be joining Sri Lanka Under-19 as Batting Coach.

Joining the Emerging Team as Batting Coach is another coach with good credentials. Dhammika Sudarshana is his name. Like, Perera, Sudarshana enjoyed lot of success at Richmond College, Galle. Unlike Perera, Sudarshana joined SLC two years ago, but his role was unclear having been shifted to various teams. Eventually, he has settled in with the Emerging Team.

Both Sudarshana and Perera are quite capable of handling the Sri Lanka Under-19 team on their own but in our part of the world, we tend to believe that only who have played for the country are capable of functioning as Head Coach and those who did not play for Sri Lanka are relegated. Our authorities will do well to note that reputed international coaches like John Buchanan and Graham Ford had no international experience and in fact had played less than handful of First Class games.

We did the same mistake with another proven school coach – Harsha de Silva. When de Silva left St. Joseph’s having shaped the careers of the likes of Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Roshen Silva et al, he was expected to take charge of the Under-19 team when he joined SLC. But instead, he was given the women’s team. The authorities failed to recognise his strong point. The same mistake has been done with Perera and Sudarshana.

Avishka Fernando is another coach who has had tremendous success since joining SLC after his successful stint at SSC. In the last 24 months, his expertise has been used in various teams and eventually he has settled in with the ‘A’ team as the Head Coach. More than working as the Batting Coach of the national team, Avishka is ideal choice to build up the nation’s second string. Now that he has been given the job, it is hoped that the ‘A’ team will have regular fixtures as well both home and away in a bid to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket.