Happy to recruit Hathurusingha: SLC chief

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Thilanga Sumathipala indicated that new head coach of the senior team, Chandika Hathurusingha, will be given a free hand in his quest to rebuild the team into a dominant player on the international circuit.

Hathurusingha, the former Bangladesh coach, was released from his contract by the Bangladesh Cricket Board after he tended his resignation in the aftermath of Bangladesh's disastrous tour of South Africa.

Sri Lanka, who had used Nic Pothas in an interim capacity after Graham Ford stepped down in June, then moved quickly to recruit Hathurusingha and tied him down to a contract at home.

Hailing him as 'world class', Sumathipala assured that the no-nonsense coach would be offered full freedom from unnecessary board interventions - common in Sri Lanka - and allow him to chart his own roadmap for Sri Lanka's cricket renaissance.

"There's no point in hiring one of the best coaches in the world and then failing to give him the freedom to do his job," Sumathipala said on Wednesday (December 20).

"I'm not a coach and no one in the board knows more about the job of a coach than Mr Hathurusingha. We have to give him freedom. But we also trust that he will do his job well and have an expectation that he will answer the questions that we have for him from time to time."

"We support him and we will make sure that he is given the freedom of what he has to address in the national team, not only that, he will be a part and parcel of our development programme, assist our committees, our High Performance team.. We are quite clear in our mind that we have got the best possible coach for our national team at this moment of time.

According to Sumathipala, Hathurusingha brings in a exemplary technical know-how to the role in a fast-changing game that now relies heavily on technology and scientific evidence.

More importantly, however, being a Sri Lankan, Hathurusingha will find himself ideally placed to break down language barriers that may restrict young player development in the international arena. This has been of significant importance in a stuck-in-transition Sri Lankan setup, whose last Sinhalese speaking coach was Marvan Atapattu.

"We looked at what Sri Lanka cricket is all about, what are the kind of ideas the coach has (we are looking for), we structured the plan, we looked at opportunities and the people who are available.. then we were looking at the current game, which is highly technical now as well as most of the coaches are working based on scientific evidence, and they are all using most of the technology, depending on technical assistance.. in that context, we found Hatu (Chandika Hathurusingha) is one of the top world-class coaches," Sumathipala said.

"He is always one person who believes in technology and uses it in the best interest of the team. So when we had shortlisted people who are available right now, even though Hathurusingha wasn't available at that time, COO, myself spoke to him and spoke with him about the possibility of working.

Then we informed BCB about our intention if Hathurusingha is available, then our technical committee will.. he's our ideal candidate who we would like to engage as the head coach. They have released him in good faith, and we have managed to secure Hathurusingha's services for a full time assignment as the head coach. We are happy to have a world class coach for the national team.

"He's a very matured coach, qualified, his approach fits well with the kind of people and players we have. More than anything else, he is a Sri Lankan, he can communicate much better than anyone else with the players, that's another advantage. Not only as a coach or a Sri Lankan, he's been a a world-class player - a former Test player."

Hathurusingha, who officially took charge of his new post on Wednesday, didn't appear overawed by the enormity of the challenge ahead of him. "Listening to president and the sports minister and thinking of all the expectations, there's no pressure for me," he said.

"This is all opportunities. Looking from outside, looking at our team, I thought It's great opportunity for me to come here and maximize the potential in the Sri Lanka team that I see from outside. I am looking forward to that challenge and I take that challenge as a very good opportunity to take the team forward."

Hathurusingha's first assignment as Sri Lanka coach will be an away tour to the land of his former employers - Bangladesh.

Source: Cricbuzz