Rex Clementine, in the Island, 30 June 2024, where the title reads ‘Who should suceed Silverwood”
Before Sri Lanka Cricket could assess and decide whether Chris Silverwood should get an extension, the Head Coach threw in the towel indicating that family reasons made it impossible for him to stay away from home. Silverwood, who is 49, has three young boys. Indications are that he might return home to take up as coach of Yorkshire, where he made a name for himself as a fast bowler.
The process to appoint Silverwood’s successor has begun and many local and foreign coaches would have shown interest. India is following the same process after incumbent Rahul Dravid decided to quit. Choosing India’s Head Coach can be interesting. Last time they wanted people to apply, an engineer who had never played cricket in his life had applied for the job.
There’s a school of thought that the current national team needs a local as Head Coach. It is suggested that language is a huge barrier and a local coach would work well. We have the likes of Roy Dias and Marvan Atapattu who have had tremendous success as Head Coaches. Roy, who will turn 72 this year may not be interested, while Marvan has become more of an armchair critic these days.
Mahela Jayawardene has just quit as Consultant Coach so he will not be keen as well. That leaves us with Sanath Jayasuriya, who is already part of the system. He is quite passionate with coaching and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hand the reigns to him for two years.
T.M. Dilshan has for some time now shown interest in a coaching assignment, He is someone who is capable of thinking outside the box and a role like Batting Coach is not a bad idea. Then there are likes of Thilan Samaraweera and Rangana Herath, who have already done international assignments with other countries.
Foreign coaches can not succeed in Sri Lanka is a myth. If you take Asian nations, the most successful coaches have been foreigners be it Garry Kirsten, Bob Woolmer or John Wright.