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From the Press Box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka's failure to qualify for the Sharjah Cup final is another indication of what is in store for the national team in the future.

The retirement of Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya quitting the captaincy, the non-renewal of coach Dav Whatmore's contract and that of physio Alex Kountouri, all point to the end of a golden era for Sri Lanka cricket and, the beginning of a new one starting with the home series against New Zealand this month.

It was the foresightedness of Ana Punchihewa, a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) in 1995 to hire the services of a foreign cricket coach for the national team that led to Sri Lanka becoming one of the top cricketing nations in the world.

Unfortunately, Punchihewa had only a limited stay at the top to savour the success of the national team because he was thrown out of the presidency, a few days after Sri Lanka won the World Cup by insidious forces which had vested interests in running the day to day affairs of the Cricket Board. It was to be the start of a decline in cricket administration in this country.

Until Punchihewa took over, Sri Lanka cricket had been served by many local coaches who had done their best to raise the standard of the team to a point where it needed only some fine tuning to make them the world's best. What the team lacked was direction and on Whatmore fell the onus of tapping the vast talent that was at his disposal and unleashing it at the opponents.One of the key areas that needed immediate attention if Sri Lanka was to succeed at the top was the physical aspect of the players.

As Kountouri was to admit later, when he took over as physio, most of the players were not physically geared to withstand the pressures of playing international cricket, which led to a spate of injuries and mental tiredness.

Less than a year since he took over as coach, Whatmore struck gold when the team went on to win the most prized trophy in one-day competitions, the World Cup in 1996 under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga.

That success catapulted, Whatmore as a man with a magic wand, although he was to admit later that he had nothing to do with such success, but it was the players who had made it possible. However Sri Lanka's golden run continued until Whatmore was forced to quit his job under duress with the Cricket Board administrators at the time.

His absence led to a dip in fortunes for the Sri Lanka team as they failed to defend the World Cup in England three years later with disastrous results being knocked out of the competition in the preliminary rounds.

The alarm signals went for the recall of Whatmore from Lancashire where he was doing wonders with the county and being voted by 'Wisden Cricket Monthly' as the coach of the year, having taken the county to two one-day titles and runner-up in the county championships in 1998.

An interim committee, which was in place under Rienzie Wijetilleke, negotiated for Whatmore's return as coach in 1999. Under a new captain Sanath Jayasuriya, and with Whatmore's guidance, Sri Lanka cricket started to prosper once more, the highlight on this occasion being the ten consecutive Test wins achieved by the country.

However, the failure of the team to reach the final of the 2003 World Cup and the stuttering manner in which they performed throughout the tournament convinced everyone that fresh thinking was needed if Sri Lanka cricket was to progress any further.

Whatmore had done a splendid job as coach and taken Sri Lanka cricket to heights, which they had never dreamed of achieving eight years ago. But all good things they say must come to an end and Whatmore is almost finished with Sri Lanka cricket. It would have been a fitting farewell to him if Sri Lanka had gone on to win the Sharjah Cup final. It didn't happen that way.

Although his contract is scheduled to run till end of May it is quite unlikely that Whatmore will remain for another series. The BCCSL has already indicated they don't want him anymore after May, so it is not right to try to retain him for another series.

With time not so much time on their side the best possible solution is to appoint an interim coach for the New Zealand series until such time the BCCSL finalises its negotiations with the three candidates they have lined up to fill Whatmore's post - Steve Rixon, John Bracewell and Graham Ford.

The big question the BCCSL faces in its negotiations is the fee they can afford to pay the coach, especially when they are expected to run into losses amounting to something like Rs. 650 million on a television rights case and fines for failing to meet player contract deadlines.

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