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Chappell and Moody short- listed
Hobson's choice for Sri Lanka
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Sri Lanka Cricket will sign up with Greg Chappell or Tom Moody as their Cricket Coach in the next few days, but will have to keep their fingers crossed on their final choice until India finalizes their coach this week.

The two former Australian cricketers who are the front runners for the job in Sri Lanka are also two of the four short listed candidates for India. The Indian Board has requested all of their four candidates, Tom Moody, Greg Chappell, Desmond Haynes and Mohinder Amaranath to present themselves for an interview on Wednesday before a final decision is made. As such Sri Lanka are forced to wait until India decides on their candidate.

Sri Lanka Cricket's Interim Committee Chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa speaking to The Sunday Times on the issue said, "We have spoken to Moody and Chappell and are ready to take either of them as our Coach. However as India is selecting their candidate this week and Moody and Chappell have been short listed, we have to await that outcome".

Dharmadasa re-iterated that both Moody and Chappell are within the reach of Sri Lanka. "They are both highly qualified and we have agreed to their financial terms and conditions". Sri Lanka Cricket is expected to sign up the coach for two years, taking the team upto the 2007 world cup in the West Indies.

Tom Moody is currently the Worcestershires' director of cricket, a position he has held since 2001. Although Moody is tied up with his county he has an exit clause that will permit him to take up another assignment immediately. The tall Australian is one player who has been in two-world cup winning teams, in 1987 and 1999. Chappell who was an outstanding batsman during his era has coached South Australia and moulded that team to a challenging unit. He has also written a book on coaching.

According to the Secretary of the SLC Interim Committee Tryphon Mirando, Chappell if selected would have a broad based appointment. "Greg has agreed to work as a consultant to Sri Lanka Cricket in addition to his role as the coach for the senior team. This effectively means that he will also help in the junior levels. In fact in his proposal Greg has also given a comprehensive plan on how to develop the game at the grass root level". Meanwhile SLC Interim Committee has appointed Michael Tissera and Anura Tennekoon as the Managers for the senior side and the A team respectively. Although there was some speculation that the A team coach Stan Nell will be replaced, Interim Committee sources confirmed to the Sunday Times that Stan will remain with the A team as the Australian has done a satisfactory job.

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