• SLC to announce permanent head coach shortly 

Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashley de Silva hailed the landmark One-Day International Series win by Sri Lanka Women’s cricket team in the West Indies as ‘girls reaping the benefits of our investments.’

“It’s a significant series win for Sri Lanka,” he told The Daily Morning Sports, when pressed for his views on the team’s performance in the ongoing three-match ODI series in the West Indies.

“We have hardly won any series in One Day Internationals away from home and therefore this success gained by the girls shows that the players are starting to reap the dividends of our investments in the women’s game.”

Sri Lanka won the second ODI by 14-runs on Sunday (22) having prevailed by a narrow 10-runs in the series opener on Friday (20) to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, which is set to conclude on Wednesday (25) in Grenada.

De Silva stated that the game’s domestic controlling body had provided the women’s national team with the requisite facilities and created the necessary pathway from grass root level to hone their skills,

Hence he argued that the latest series triumph in the West Indies comes as no surprise with the team capable of scaling even greater heights in the future in his view.

Asked whether acting head coach and former first-class cricketer Sumithra Warnakulasuriya will be retained on a permanent basis the SLC CEO stressed that the ex-Royal batter will continue to function as a consultant coach for the team.

He added that the SLC will shortly announce a permanent head coach from overseas for Chamari Athapaththu’s team.

Following the white-ball series in the West Indies, SL Women as per the Future Tours Programme (FTP) of the ICC, are scheduled to fly out to Bangladesh for a three-match ODI and T20 series in April-May.

Afterwards they are slated to host Pakistan and Australia for two bilateral white-ball series in July and December, respectively.