Hathurusingha to Work as Official Selector-on-Tour along with Team Manager and Captain

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has decided to make head coach Chandika Hathurusingha an official selector-on-tour, alongside cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha and the captain of the side.

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Hathurusingha will not play any role in drafting the squad for a series. The role will continue to be done by the existing selection panel headed by Graham Labrooy. However, once a squad has been chosen, Hathurusingha, Gurusinha, and the captain will form the three-man on-tour selection panel that gets to pick the final XI for each match.

However, Hathurusingha had wanted to be a selector – a position he had served as head coach of Bangladesh. Sri Lanka’s Sports Law, however, prevents a head coach of a national team from concurrently functioning as a selector of that team. Making him a selector-on-tour is SLC’s attempt to grant Hathurusingha the power he desires, without falling foul of the law.

Mr Hathurusingha had lengthy discussions with us, and we found that if we are to demand a high quality of performance, we have to give him 100% backing,” SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said.

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Sumathipala while explaining further about the role stated,

“Sometimes a coach might tell a player: ‘Go out and get 20 runs in the next one or two overs,’ and they might get out. If you look only at the statistics, that player might be dropped. But if the selectors are aware of the situation, and the coach says, ‘He got out because I told him to get these runs,” then [that player will get more support]. That is our thinking – to give the coach that muscle. If you expect one of the top coaches to come and help us out, we must give him the backing.”

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Although, this is the first time a Sri Lankan coach has been appointed with this power. However, Hathurusinghe is not the head of the on-tour selection panel. Cricket manager Gurusinha will head the panel, who has functioned as the most powerful selector-on-tour since being appointed by SLC last year. Gurusinha is also a member of the selection panel that picks the squad.

Hathurusingha’s first challenge will be the forthcoming tri-series in Bangladesh, which included Zimbabwe in addition to the hosts. The captain for that series (who will also now function as an on-tour selector), will be named on January 9.

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