Dhammika Sudarshana parachuted temporarily as Batting Coach amid player displeasure

[caption id="attachment_149365" align="alignleft" width="202"] Roshan Mahanama[/caption]

By Revatha S. Silva

As Piyal Wijetunge took over as Sri Lanka coaching responsibilities for only two days, on Monday (12) and Tuesday (13), as the current coaching staff of the national team is in isolation due to the latest Covid-19 outbreak, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources revealed yesterday that the controversial Sri Lanka Head Coach Mickey Arthur will be ousted from his position after the October-November T20 World Cup. Arthur will most likely be replaced permanently by Sri Lanka World Cup-winning batsman Roshan Mahanama, the source added.

“His (Arthur’s) two-year contract is going to be over anyway later this year. The authorities are unlikely to retain him for another term with this kind of performance,” the above source said.

Sri Lanka showed no improvement and only hit further lows under Arthur’s watch and, in spite of the continuous poor show since his appointment in late 2019, his rhetoric and unsubstantiated explanations after each and every series were only to the gross arousal of more and more criticisms against the South African.

Member of the Technical Advisory Committee

[caption id="attachment_149366" align="alignleft" width="230"] Mickey Arthur[/caption]

Mahanama is also current member of the Technical Advisory Committee headed by Aravinda de Silva, which was appointed and ratified last year by SLC and the Sports Ministry. Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara are the other members of the Committee.

Along with Arthur, his team --including Grant Flower as the Batting Coach, David Saker as Bowling Coach, and Shane McDermott as Fielding Coach-- joined in December 2019 for a two-year contract with SLC.

With many months to go to complete his two-year term, Saker resigned from his post in February this year citing personal reasons. In June he joined as the Head Coach of Australian Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Melbourne Renegades.

Removed from Pakistan

Coaching the Pakistan national team before his Sri Lanka assignment, Arthur’s high point was helping them win the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and ten consecutive T20I series wins, under Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Yet he was removed as Head Coach of Pakistan following their poor run which continued into the 2019 World Cup. Flower, a former Zimbabwe all-rounder, had also worked with Arthur during the latter’s Pakistan stint, again as the Batting Coach.

Who Arthur replaced as Sri Lanka Head Coach was Chandika Hathurusingha, a situation which prompted pundits to quip that it was something like ‘trading ginger with chillies’, in Sinhala jargon; meaning under both of them, there was more rhetoric than improved performance, despite massive promise and excessive salaries in US dollars.

Dhammika Sudarshana parachuted?

Meanwhile with regard to the forthcoming Indian series, which is to get underway on Sunday (18) at Khettarama, the existing coaching staff is likely to start work from today (14) if their latest PCR tests are to be negative. Until then Wijetunge, who is current Spin Bowling Coach attached to SLC, will look after the Sri Lanka squad’s overall coaching.

Even though the current staff can report after testing themselves negative controversial Batting Coach Flower, who had contracted the virus last week, is unlikely to report to work soon.

Looking after Flower’s responsibilities on a temporarily basis will most likely be a strange and unexpected face, Dhammika Sudarshana.

Sudarshana, a Moors SC batsman of the 1990s, has been roped in, allegedly, from nowhere as Flower’s temporary replacement only to the dismay of both the players as well as some of the local co-staffers of the current Sri Lanka coaching team, The Morning Sports learnt on Monday.