Selectors to pick preliminary squad of 26 for U-19 World Cup/Asia Cup

Sri Lanka cricketers at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa

• SLC receives applications for post of U-19 head coach

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

A pool of 75 under-19 cricketers have completed a three-week coaching camp at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium under the watchful eyes of coaches and national selectors and are awaiting for the national selection committee to pick the squad of 26 who will go into a bubble and beginning training and practice in preparation for the Under-19 Asia Cup in December and the Under-19 World Cup in January.    

The coaches it is learnt had given their views and made their recommendations on the players during the coaching camp to the national selectors whose responsibility it is now to prune the squad down to 26.

Emphasis was laid more on the players’ individual skills than the scores and wickets they got playing practice matches in rotation. 

Prior to the World Cup, Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketers are scheduled to play India Under-19 in a series in September-October and also participate in the Under-19 Asia Cup in December - both tournaments which are now in limbo due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has also advertised for the post of head coach for the Sri Lanka Under-19 team – a position which they have not filled since the last Under-19 World Cup ended in South Africa in January-February 2020. 

Following Sri Lanka’s poor showing where they finished 10th out of 16th – their worst position in the history of the World Cup, the Under-19 head coach Hashan Tillakaratne was removed from the post and placed at the High Performance Centre (HPC) in Khettarama after which he has now been appointed as head coach of the Sri Lanka Women’s cricket team.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic there has hardly been any under 19 cricket or school cricket played. However, with the Under-19 Asia Cup and the Under-19 World Cup in mind, SLC appointed Dhammika Sudarshana, the famed coach from Richmond College, Galle as the Under-19 interim coach to oversee the 26-member squad that will be named by the selectors shortly.  

It is learnt that Sudarshana has also thrown his hat into the ring for the post of Under-19 head coach.

“We have advertised for the post of a permanent head coach for the Under-19 side, but we are not yet decided whether it will be a local or foreign coach who will handle the players. We have not yet gone through the CV’s of the applicants as yet,” said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva.

SLC will take a final decision on the position in consultation with the Technical and Advisory Committee.

Following the senior national cricket team’s poor performances where they have lost successive series to Bangladesh, England and India in white ball cricket, a public outcry has been made in the media that a local coach be appointed instead of foreign coaches because the majority of the players in the team who come from rural backgrounds are not fluent in English and the coaches do not have an understanding of their needs and requirements.

If SLC adopts that logic it is most unlikely they would go ahead with a foreign coach for the Under-19 national team.