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SLC-Silverwood negotiations on verge of becoming successful

21 Mar 2022

  • Two months after England omission, Silverwood likely to be Sri Lanka’s next Head Coach 
By Revatha S. Silva The negotiations Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is having at the moment with former England cricket team Head Coach Chris Silverwood are likely to end up successfully, a source in the know of those negotiations confirmed to The Morning Sports yesterday (21). “Still (until yesterday) the negotiations are on. But it is very likely that those negotiations will end up successfully,” a highly-placed SLC source said. Test series win in Sri Lanka It has been only two months since Silverwood was sacked by England as their Head Coach. Silverwood had coached England, under Joe Root’s captaincy, to a rare Test series win in Sri Lanka about 14 months ago, in January last year. He was elevated from England Bowling Coach to their Head Coach’s position in 2019 to succeed Australian Trevor Bayliss. Months without a permanent coach Former Yorkshire and England fast-bowler Silverwood became the biggest casualty of England’s 4-0 defeat in the Ashes Test series in January, following their stringent post-series scrutiny, particularly on England’s selectorial and tactical decisions during the five-match campaign in Australia. Sri Lanka are without a Head Coach after South African Mickey Arthur’s tenure ended in December. Arthur took up as Head Coach of England county Derbyshire. Many names, including well-known ones such as Jason Gillespie and Paul Farbrace, cropped up during months of Sri Lanka’s headhunt for the key post but nothing was finalised. Nawaz is Assistant Coach In the meantime, Bangladesh under-19 Coach and former Sri Lanka batsman Naveed Nawaz was appointed as the Assistant Coach of the Sri Lanka national team under recommendation by the SLC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), appointed by the Ministry of Sports and ratified by SLC. Nawaz was TAC’s first-choice candidate for the Head Coach’s position too after the Aravinda de Silva-led committee had interviewed over a dozen candidates. Players unhappy Yet Sri Lanka team sources had revealed that some of the national players are unhappy over Nawaz’s appointment fearing unhealthy outside forces may create undue influence within the team through Nawaz disrupting the team’s unity and performance. “If Silverwood’s negotiations become successful, Nawaz will work as his deputy,” the above source further clarified. SLC does the negotiations Current Interim Head Coach of Sri Lanka Rumesh Ratnayaka has not looked convincing enough to bag a full-time contract, it is further revealed. Under his stewardship, Sri Lanka lost 4-1 in a Twenty20 International (T20I) series against Australia and, most recently, they were whitewashed by India in both T20I and Test series. Understandably, the negotiations with Silverwood are mainly done by SLC without much involvement from the TAC. Heavy 2022 calendar Silverwood, 47, played six Tests and seven One-Day Internationals (ODI) during 1996-2002 for England. Under his watch as Head Coach, though, England lost nine Tests out of 15 in the last calendar year. Sri Lanka will have a busy schedule following the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. They will be having a ten-match series against Australia across all three formats before a two-match Test and three-match ODI series against Pakistan. A home Asia Cup and the T20I World Cup too are lined up later this year.  


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