Hathurusingha expected to become SLC coach in December

Sri Lanka Cricket's (SLC) negotiations with former Test opener Chandika Hathurusingha has been successful and the 49-year-old is expected to take over as the Head Coach of the side in December soon after the ongoing Indian series, officials confirmed.

Hathurusingha, who lives in Sydney, had arrived in Colombo earlier this week to visit his mother and had met board officials on a couple of occasions.

"We are glad that the negotiations have been successful. He visited the board and then took a look at the facilities we have in place," an official told Cricbuzz.

"He is very close to our Vice-President Mr. Kangatharan Mathivanan and it is he who convinced Hathurusingha to take over as Head Coach and he is leading the negotiations from our side," the source added.

Incidentally, it was Mathivanan, who negotiated with Hathurusingha to take over as Sri Lanka 'A' team coach in 2007 during one of his visits to UAE where he was Head Coach.

Several current players like Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Suranga Lakmal graduated to the senior side when Hathurusingha was in-charge of the second string team.

Two years later his role was changed and was put in as understudy to then Head Coach Trevor Bayliss expecting him to take over the side when the Australian's tenure ended in 2011.

However, those plans nosedived as disagreements with then board hierarchy saw him being sacked in 2010.

Hathurusingha, who was contracted with Bangladesh until 2019, resigned as Head Coach on the 15th October.

As per contractual obligations, he is prevented from taking up another coaching position for three months from the date of resignation.

That puts his plans of coaching Sri Lanka in their tour of Bangladesh in early January next year in jeopardy.

SLC was confident of a way out of the situation as the board was keen for him to take over immediately after the Indian series. He is now expected to forgo one month's salary from BCB, which SLC is expected to compensate.

Hathurusingha will become the highest paid Sri Lankan coach ever with an annual pay package of US$ 300,000.