Gurusinha to lift player standards in dual roles a major step forward
Sri Lanka cricket’s (SLC) appointment of former cricketing great Asanka Gurusinha of 1996 world cup fame in the dual roles of President, Thilanga Sumathipala it is a far sighted chain linking cohesive step that puts a highly versed man as the pivotal linking factor in coordinating a series of official functions connected to team performance on tour.
Gurusinha would be the effective coordinating linkman revolving around the cricket team. It would relate to coordinating selections, team policy, captain pow wows, high performance other tour details to importantly player assessment feed backs to the cricket committee and executive committee as a whole. This necessary link chain for optimum results that had been a lacking factor in the past has been plugged following recent tours, according to SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala who announced his administration’s short and long term policy. The move, particularly identified in the wake of the South Africa tour, would resultantly pave the way to optimizing the performance of mainly young players who have come on the blocks lacking the necessary experience.
Sumathipala stressed at length that SLC had identified Gurusinha as the ideal choice to fill in to this demanding top flight role covering several player components particularly on major tours where the cricket manager cum team manager would be cushioning dual roles for maximum results. At the Sunday media confab to induct the former Sri Lanka pivotal No.3 batsman, the SLC President got down to brass tacks having his most chosen expert former World Cup ‘Man of the Final’ Aravinda de Silva, who is the Chairman, Cricket Committee in lending importance to the newly identified job at hand to develop national cricket. Aravinda de Silva emphasized the faith of SLC in Gurusinha being highly read in the game carrying vast experience. In an age where the game had leaped forward in a modern technology culture that did not exist in his times, De Silva felt that Gurusinha’s appointment was timely where primarily player mental assessment to the game was vital to getting the right mix for the future.
Hearing it from the horses mouth was indeed enlightening for a man who had returned to his homeland as Gurusinha himself recalled after 20 year, he felt was the right time to get on with the job to deliver in the role of an expert. He had been spurred largely to accept the jobs having seen the exuberant young Sri Lankan T20 team on recent tour of Australia. He did realize what a grueling tour South Africa had been for these raw players confronting top professionals. He did look forward to nurturing these starry eyed youngsters the necessary fine tuning to top flight cricket.
SLC’s concentrated drive is centered on a far sighted 3-year plan covering the short term and long term cricket exchanges with emphasis on the 2019 ICC Champions Trophy and 2019 Cricket World Cup. With Gurusinha’s arrival it is pertinent that the island nation seeks a revival of its cricket at Test and ODI level with its standings in both forms of the game having dropped from a once credible level. Particularly the administration seeks to put the muscle on for the trophy glitter that saw Sri Lanka bask in an elite status as world champions of cricket in 1996 in a four year aura of glory.
By Srian Obeyesekere
-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-
