Their interim head coach will be former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who will lead them through a limited-overs series at home against India and an away Test trip in England that concludes in mid-September.
Although he hasn’t held a prominent coaching post before, he has served as Sri Lanka Cricket’s cricket consultant and top selector for the men’s team up until his recent appointment.
Following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup 2024, Chris Silverwood resigned from his position at the end of June, prompting the board to make this decision. Ashley de Silva, the CEO of SLC, has previously stated that the board would both post a job opening and look for applicants it deemed qualified. He added that Sri Lanka might select a native coach for the position.
De Silva commented on Jayasuriya’s appointment, saying, “Sanath, with his wealth of international cricketing experience, is well positioned to guide the national team, until we find a permanent solution.”
Jayasuriya had, in fact, been with the men’s team during their World Cup campaign in the USA and the Caribbean in his capacity as consultant. That role was the first he held officially since his two-year ban for refusing to co-operate with investigations related to corruption, run by the ICC’s anti-corruption unit.
His tenures as chief selector had courted controversy for other reasons too – he had been accused of showing preference to a player connected to the then government, in which he was a deputy minister, as well as of fielding too many players during a period of stagnating results for the team.
In truth, Jayasuriya had accompanied the men’s team as a consultant during their World Cup campaign in the USA and the Caribbean. It was the first position he had held formally following his two-year ban for refusing to assist the ICC’s anti-corruption unit in its corruption investigations.
During his time as head selector, he faced controversy for other reasons as well. He was accused of fielding an excessive number of players during a time when the team’s performance was stalling and of favouring a player who was associated with the previous administration, in which he held the position of deputy minister.
During the 2023 Lanka Premier League season, Jayasuriya served as the Dambulla franchise’s director of cricket, overseeing a number of departments, including strategic planning. He served as the team mentor for the Kandy Falcons in 2022, a season in which the team finished seventh out of eight in league play while losing in the playoffs.
In the meantime, he had adopted a more hands-on role in his most recent role with the national team as a cricket consultant, and he was rumoured to have participated actively in the think tank during Sri Lanka’s World Cup campaign. The function in question has, however, recently overlapped with Mahela Jayawardene’s consultant coach role. Jayawardene left the position last month, citing that the team’s decision-making was “no longer fully aligned” with his.
With his aggressive batting at the top of the innings, Jayasuriya helped redefine white-ball cricket, making him one of Sri Lanka’s most beloved players of the 1990s and 2000s. With 13,430 runs, he is still the fifth-highest ODI run scorer in history. In addition, he is the 12th most wicket-taker in the format with 323 ODI dismissals. Not only that, but there have also been significant exploits in 110 Tests and 31 T20I.