Sampath Perera joins as Malaysia’s cricket head coach
The name of Sampath Perera keeps bobbing up and down in coaching circles both here and abroad. It could be said, with some justification, that whatever he has touched, has turned to gold. Schools such as his Alma Mater, D.S. Senanayake College, whom he coached from 1999 to 2008, Trinity College (2008-16) and St. Anthony’s College have been the beneficiaries of his coaching skills and expertise.
Sampath Perera during his tenure at Trinity College - File pic
Always on the lookout for better prospects, Sampath left the island on Wednesday morning to take up a two-year contract as the Malaysian National Head Coach. Malaysian cricket has plumbed the depths as their woeful performance at the Under-19 World Cup showed. But, the new coach is not fazed. However, he is confident of tuning things round, given a little time. This will be his first experience of coaching a National Team, even though it will only be an Associate Members’ Team.
Sampath played for D.S. Senanayake from 1989 to 1993, and captained in his final year. He turned out for the BRC for a season or two, and for the Moors SC from 2000 to 2002. He tells that his years as a Bloomfield C&AC player from 1993 to 1998 for the best of his career. One of the reasons is that Bloomfield had a fair member of Sri Lanka players at that time. The names of Sanath Jayasuriya, Roshan Mahanama, Kumara Dharmasena, Ruwan Kalpage and Pubudu Dassanaike tip off his tongue.
Prestigious clubs such as the SSC and NCC opened their doors to him. He was at the SSC from 2002 to 2004 and at the NCC from 2005 to 2008. He was very successful at the latter club, helping them to win the Under-23 title under Damith Mapa Bandara. A greater achievement was winning the SLC Premier One Day Tournament when Upul Chandana led the side.
Sampath had eight happy years at Trinity. In that time, the Kandy team was always at the top, or thereabouts. Niroshan Dickwella and Lahiru Kumara have proceeded to strut their stuff with bat and ball (and keeping gloves!). He feels that the next player to join them at the top could be this year’s Trinity skipper, Hasitha Boyagoda.
Earlier, during his tenure as coach of DSS, he spotted a raw, talented youngster from Balangoda, by the name of Isuru Udana and honed his special skills. Udana is a key component of Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 team at present.
Discussing the pros and cons of getting players from backward and less privileged schools to turn out for schools such as Trinity and St. Anthony’s, Sampath is firm in his conviction that such transfers should only take place after the Under-15 level. He believes that players should be permitted to play in their accustomed environment until they are 15 at least. He says that Trinity took players only to fill the gaps.
Quizzed as to any possible fiction within the team as a result of the newcomers, he points out that at both colleges in Kandy, these new players were accepted without any question.
Anthonians Navodya Vijaykumar, Kalhara Senaratne and Sasith Hirudika are full of talent. That spin sensation, 16-year-old Nimnaka Jayatilleka, according to Sampath, is very strong mentally. Asitha Wanninayake, he feels, is one for the future.
Sampath was the deputy to Trevor Bayliss, the coach of the Wayamba United Team in Sri Lanka’s Premier League in 2012. He has mixed feelings about his one-year stint alongside Rameez Raja at the Future Legends Cricket Academy in Dubai in 2016. That project did not really take off and Sampath felt that a good position in Sri Lanka Cricket would be something up his street.
Promise of an appointment as the Under-19 National Coach was held out, but things didn’t work out. He doesn’t want to dwell on the reasons.
Sampath Perera has a good work ethic and is a proven performer. Like him, or lump him. Sampath deserves an opportunity to show what he is capable of. Sri Lanka’s woeful performance at the last Under-19 World Cup as shown that the country is not exactly over-burdened with coaches of talent and ability. After all, like England in the senior edition, Sri Lanka has never bagged the Under-19 showpiece.