• HPC staff reboot a cumulative effect of team performance, says Jerome

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday (23) averred that they were unaware of any move by the Government to request the resignation of its Executive Committee members, headed by SLC President Shammi Silva.

“We have also seen some reports in the media. But we have not been notified of anything. We are not aware of anything of that nature,” SLC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashley de Silva said at a press conference.

It was held to introduce new Sri Lanka Men’s Team Head Coach Gary Kirsten, who had signed a two-year contract encompassing the 50-over World Cup to be co-hosted between his native land South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia next year.

De Silva’s comments came in response to a question raised by The Sunday Morning Sports on reports circulating online that the Government had asked the SLC Executive Committee to step down, with particular focus on President Silva.

The SLC Executive Committee had come in for sharp criticism in the aftermath of Sri Lanka tumbling at the Super Eight phase of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which it co-hosted with ultimate winners India in February-March this year, their fate sealed by a 61-run loss to New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the SLC CEO explained that the ethics code for nationally-contracted players had not been introduced recently, but that it had been in existence in the past as well.

“Every time players sign the contracts, they are compelled to sign the ethics code, which they have done even in the past. Hence, this is not a new development.”

He added that financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for players were normally set as part of the player contracts and remarked that financial bonuses had been separately included for winning, while incorporating certain impactful cuts into it when they lose.

SLC Director of Cricket Jerome Jayaratne stated that the recent ‘reboot’ of support staff of various teams affiliated to the setup at the High-Performance Centre (HPC) was a procedure that the governing body had undertaken periodically even in the past.

“It was primarily a restructure of the staff and it was done at my behest,” the former S. Thomas’ College cricketer affirmed.

“Just like players, even the staff are given certain targets to achieve and based on those we tend to carry out such reboots if results are not positive enough and this was one such move.”

Jayaratne insisted that another critical reason for the recent reshuffle of the HPC staff was due to the continued decline in performance of the national team across all formats.

He further noted that the KPIs for the coaching staff which had been followed previously was also currently being restructured in line with its recent reboot and promised to reveal more details once it was formulated. 

(JK)