Sanath Jayasuriya replaces Chris Silverwood as Sri Lanka coach | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Former cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya on Monday announced that he will be the new head coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team following the resignation of Chris Silverwood. Silverwood cited “personal reasons” after the team’s early exit from the T20 World Cup.


Jayasuriya will take over after the end of the T20 Lanka Premier League on July 21.

“I have been asked to take over coaching and I am happy to do it,” Jayasuriya told AFP.

Jayasuriya, a former Test and ODI captain, was also a national selector.

Jayasuriya, 55, confirmed that Sri Lanka Cricket had asked him to coach the national team ahead of a white-ball series against India this month and a tour of England in August.

Jayasuriya previously served as a national selector and brings a wealth of experience to the role, having represented Sri Lanka 586 times in Test, ODI and T20 formats, scoring 42 centuries and taking 440 wickets.

His last international appearance was in 2011.

Silverwood, who had been head coach since April 2022, resigned following Sri Lanka’s disappointing performance at the T20 World Cup, where they managed just one win against the Netherlands and finished third in their group behind South Africa and Bangladesh.

Despite a promising start with Sri Lanka winning the 2022 T20 Asia Cup and reaching the final of the 2023 50-Over Asia Cup, the team failed to make it to the knockout stages of the last few World Cup tournaments.

In a related development, former captain Mahela Jayawardena also resigned from his position as “advisory coach” last month, another sign of significant changes in the national team’s coaching staff.