By Srian Obeyesekere
New Head Coach South African born Gary Kirsten, addressing the media for the first time at Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters yesterday said that his key priority would be to necessarily create consistency in the Sri Lanka teams in the three formats which was the key missing link to winning potency. “There is no doubt about the talent of the players which Sri Lanka is known for. My main concern is to create consistency among the players. I think whats important for me is to find the best balance and identify the particular roles particular players can play, voiced the 58-year old head coach packing a rich coaching profile of his country national teams and India that took Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team to the 2011 ODI Cricket World Cup following a rollicking playing career for South Africa counting 21 test and 13 ODI centuries from 1993 to 2004 as a solid opening batsman.
Flanked by Sri Lanka Cricket’s Chief Executive Officer, Ashley de Silva and Director, Cricket, National, Jerome Jayaratne, Kirsten, dealing at length with the pros and cons of the game surrounding Sri Lanka Cricket and the way forward, said,
“I have to see whats needed in the team. I’m pretty excited. There’s lots of talent in the country.”
“I think we all like see team performing well in all formats at best they can. I expect to take this talented group of Sri Lanka cricketers and make them perform versus the best in the world.”
I’m comfortable with e processes in place and that the team is moving in the right direction which is important. What’s important for me is to be behind the team. Everybody (players) want to perform which is what matters”.
Fielding questions as to certain negative aspects the media referred to, Kirsten said, “I dont want to comment on the bad cos I’m just here. “
“Sri Lanka can be very proud that there are 8 to 10 guys involved in league games. We have lot of depth across the formats.”
“I think what’s important for me is to find the best balance and identify the particular roles particular players can play. Its important to get the skill levels in the formats going. It is important for Sri Lanka to be at the top of the park in the rankings. I dont see anything wrong in Sri Lanka cricket. There’s enough talent in the country to compete with the best teams in the world.“
“The important thing is to get the consistency working. To be match ready when we play the West Indies. “
“Its important to have all our bases covered in the skill sets. We have 25 odi’s ahead of the world cup and we’ll be progressing and improving ahead of the World Cup.”
Meanwhile, the SLC CEO, Ashley de Silva, responding to questions from the media, said that national players gained by way of bonuses apart from other remunerations binding their contracts.
Similarly, the Director Cricket, National, Jerome Jayaratne fielding a question revolving around the recent coaching changes of the national teams at the High Performance Center, commented the changes had been necessitated in view of the recent decline of the national teams at the highest level.
“Changes were made in view of the decline of the national teams. This was done taking into consideration the fact that there were coaches who had been serving for long periods and a change was seen as necessary. However, Avishka Gunawatdena being put to coach the Under 19 periphery had been done as we felt a good coach was important there given his success with the A team.”
He went on to observe that while the U19 men’s and women’s teams had been performing well in the international arena, it had not been so with the mainstream national teams and a structural change of coaches was looked at as a turn for the better.
Courtesy Sri Lanka Cricket