No hustle for SLC

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: The Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee will face another crisis as they meet today to decide and shortlist the names of the candidates in their attempt to appoint a new head coach for the national team.

However the Interim Committee Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket Jayantha Dharmadasa said that they would not rush into things immediately but will take their time in appointing a successor to Tom Moody who informed the SLC that due to his family and personal commitments he was unable to continue with the job.

Dharmadasa said that Moody has come up with a couple of names and the SLC are also conducting their own research to appoint a suitable candidate who will be able to continue with the good work.

The Sri Lanka team under the guidance of Moody had a fantastic run upto the World Cup where they scored a historic five nil clean sweep over England after a drawn test series.

The Lankans also drew a one day series in New Zealand before losing to Australia on the Duckworth Lewis scoring method in the World Cup final in Barbados.

Sri Lanka Cricket media spokesman Samantha Algama said that they had officially launched the recruitment process for a new head coach for the national team while placing an advertisement on their website.

"The suitable candidate should be a Level III qualified coach and should be energetic, organised and highly motivated with excellent communication skills," the SLC media release said on their website (www.srilankacricket.lk).

"The selected individual will be required to train national squads for the participation of tournaments and tours.

He will also be required to work at specialised clinics and harness the selected players to be competitive in the international arena and will be responsible for building a winning team."

Meanwhile reliable sources said that Sri Lanka Cricket was also keen to appoint former Sri Lanka paceman Rumesh Ratnayake as the assistant coach for the forthcoming home series against Bangladesh. The 43 year played 23 tests and is presently functioning as a Development Officer of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).

Sri Lanka will have a busy international programme during the next six months where teams from Bangladesh, and England are scheduled to tour the island. In addition they will compete in the inaugural Twenty20 tournament in South Africa in September which will be followed by a two test series against Australia in Brisbane and Hobart in November.