Sri Lanka Cricket has stated that the appointment of coaches Julian Wood and Rene Ferdinands will have no effect on the roles of Thilina Kandamby and Piyal Wijetunge. The board also announced that the coaches will operate on a ‘rotation basis’ with the men’s team.
SLC’s CEO Ashley de Silva noted that the technical staff for each series will be determined by management. The head coach and ‘some other members’ are excluded from the rotation policy.
“There are national teams across the board, right? So, on a rotation basis, tour by tour, we will decide who will join the teams. That is how the high-performance center is operating now. That does not mean that each person would only work with a particular team. Apart from the head coach and a few other members, the rest would be rotated,” said de Silva, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Wood was brought on board on a one-year contract following a week-long power hitting program with the men’s and women’s teams. The players of both teams are impressed with his coaching methods. Ferdinands, on the other hand, is a biomechanics expert and has also worked with the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy.
Talking about Kandamby, he has been Sri Lanka’s batting coach since December 2023. Wijetunge is the oldest competition. He has been Sri Lanka’s spin bowling coach since February 2006. The two were recently under pressure after Sri Lanka’s T20I series defeat against Bangladesh.
De Silva further elaborated on how the coaches are expected to work according to the management. He noted that the SLC Executive Committee will decide which coach will go on a particular tour.
“They work in the organization, [it is] not that their contracts have been terminated. It doesn’t matter where they are assigned; they must be willing to work. Even her [Wood and Ferdinands] are designated in the same way so that they would work across the board. Depending on the tours, we, the ExCo [executive committee] will decide who should go on tour,” de Silva added.
Sri Lanka‘s last assignment was the Asia Cup 2025. They will participate in a three-match ODI series against Pakistan. After the bilateral series, they will be part of the T20I tri-series involving Zimbabwe there.
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