- Mubarak, Kandamby and Avishka demoted
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has moved to placate the visible anger of fans by effecting some eye-popping changes to its various coaching setups within the High-Performance Centre (HPC), as the fallout from the national team’s humongous failure to impress during last month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup gathers steam.
The sudden changes to the coaching setups coming under the purview of SLC Director of Cricket Jerome Jayaratne, is aimed at reinvigorating the structures with the fervent hope that it will translate into sustained success at international level for the senior team in the foreseeable future.
Two of the most high-profile victims of the sudden reshuffling of the pack within the HPC coaching setup, are ex-national caps Jehan Mubarak and Thilina Kandamby.
The duo thus finds themselves being transferred to the National Super League, Major Clubs and Division 1 Schools, as batting woes continued to plague the team in recent bilateral series and ICC sanctioned white-ball tournaments.
Mubarak had been operating as the National Analyst attached to the national team, while Kandamby had served as the National batting coach.
Another startling change of the coaching setup sees former Sri Lanka opener Avishka Gunawardena being relegated to the position of Sri Lanka Under-19 head coach from being the handler of the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team.
Gunawardena has been replaced as the ‘A’ team head coach by Ashan Priyanjan – a 36-year-old former spinner, who only quit the first-class circuit in 2025 and is totally new to the coaching arena.
It is understood that SLC had opted to make these changes in the expectation of new head coach Gary Kirsten bringing down his own backroom staff such as specialists for batting, bowling and fielding, ahead of the start of his 24-month long tenure from mid next month.
The ex-South Africa opening batter takes over from outgoing head coach and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who opted to stand down following Sri Lanka’s ignominious exit ahead of the knockout phase of the recently concluded T20 World Cup.
In the meantime, the game’s local governing body has also opted to transfer two other overseas coaches affiliated to the national team namely Julian Wood and Rene Ferdinands, respectively to the HPC having only hired them late last year.
Wood, who was contracted on a 12-month stint as a power-hitting specialist is now set to function as the Power-Hitting Coach of the HPC, while Ferdinands – a bio-mechanics specialist who had been signed on a two-year deal is set to operate as the HPC Spin Bowling Coach.
Jayarante is expected to be supported at the HPC by Jayasuriya who is set to serve as its Consultant with ex-spinner Ruwan Kalpage being in charge of local club and school cricket arenas.
When contacted SLC Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Ashley de Silva said they will presumably hold talks with incoming head coach Gary Kirsten ahead of recruiting any specialists for the batting, bowling and fielding departments. He added that these positions will only be filled with the tacit recommendations of Kirsten.