Sri Lankans sure of having another Aussie as head coach

Sri Lanka Cricket is all but certain to have another Australian as their head coach for the next two years following a short listing of candidates for the popular sports’ top job by the governing body Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)

Top officials of SLC confirmed to The Sunday Times that the hunt for the head coach is on and three candidates have been short listed for the position. “We have spoken to a number of persons and have now short listed three persons as potential candidates. We expect to discuss further with these candidates and get them down to Colombo within the next two weeks for interviews and then take a final decision”.

The SLC official who wished to remain anonymous refused to divulge the names of the three candidates but confirmed that all three were Australians. The official also went on to say that they are in touch with former coach Tom Moody who incidentally is also giving his input on the three Australian candidates. According to the SLC Official, another Australian Jimmie Siddons who was in touch with SLC, pulled out of the race following his consent to take over as the Assistant Australian Coach.

Already Sri Lanka Cricket has employed Australians Dave Whatmore, Bruce Yardley, John Dyson and Tom Moody as their coaches in the past decade. The new coach is expected to sign a two year contract with SLC.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s Assistant Coach Trevor Penney will take over as Head Coach for the Bangladesh series this month. Penney is expected to join Tom Moody in Western Australia after he finishes his contract with SLC in August. Former Sri Lanka fast bowler Rumesh Ratnayake will take charge as the Assistant Coach in September 2007 and is expected to sign a four year contract with SLC. Ratnayake, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler and NCC Captain played 23 tests and 70 one dayers for Sri Lanka in which he captured 73 and 76 wickets respectively.

Venue Change
The venue for the first Test against Bangladesh in Colombo, starting June 25, has been moved from R Premadasa Stadium to the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. The second Test will be played at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo from July 3 to 7 and the third at Kandy's Asgiriya Stadium from July 11 to 15. Meanwhile the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge ignored recommendations from Sri Lanka Cricket and extended the term of the current selectors until the 31st of July. The Minister has requested SLC to nominate 10 names for the position of four selectors after which his officials are expected to make the final selection. Thus the present selectors Ashantha de Mel, Amal Silva, Don Arunasiri and Shabbir Asgerally will continue until the end of next month.