Sri Lankan head coach Chandika Hathurusingha has gotten the ultimatum from the country’s sports minister. Hathurusingha will have to resign from his head coach post before the beginning of the upcoming home Test series against New Zealand. Hathurusingha can face legal action if he doesn’t leave the national team ahead of the forthcoming Test series.
After the conclusion of the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is focusing on appointing new coaches for the national team. In the 2019 CWC, Sri Lanka finished in the sixth-position after earning eight points.
Currently, the Sri Lanka national cricket team is busy in the three-match home ODI series against Bangladesh. Already securing this home series by 2-0, Sri Lanka will play the last ODI of this series on Wednesday (31st July).
After this series, New Zealand will land in Sri Lanka for the Test and T20I series. They will play the two-match bilateral Test series and three-match bilateral T20I series against the hosts Sri Lanka from 14th August to 6th September.
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Sri Lanka and New Zealand both will begin their journey in the 2019-21 ICC World Test Championship through this forthcoming Test series.
Before the New Zealand Test series, we will have a new coach – Sri Lankan sports minister
The Sri Lankan sports minister Harin Fernando has recently claimed that Sri Lanka will get a new coach before the upcoming home Test series. He also added that Hathurusingha could face legal action or get a different job offer at the board if he doesn’t leave.
Fernando claimed, “Before the New Zealand Test series, we will have a new coach.
“If Hathurusingha does not leave, we may have to consider legal action or offer him a different job at the board.”
In December 2017, Chandika Hathurusingha took the head coach role of Sri Lanka national cricket team. Under his tenure, Sri Lanka’s biggest success is winning the home and away Test series against South Africa. In last February, Sri Lanka became the first Asian side to win a Test series in South Africa.
Harin Fernando believes the remuneration of Chandika Hathurusingha is too high
Recently, Hathurusingha claimed that he still has another 16 months in his present contract. At that time, Hathurusingha has wished to stay in the current role.
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However, Fernando feels that Hathurusingha’s $40,000/month remuneration is too high according to his performance.
Fernando said, “If we are winning only 35 per cent of the games, no need to pay such high fees to coaches.”
Fernando also revealed that the international coaches were willing to work for Sri Lanka in a lesser amount. He said that the international coaches have wished to work between $17,500/month and $25,000/month.
Fernando claimed, “For the price we are paying now, we can get two foreign coaches. We must renegotiate the high fees we are paying at the moment. If they don’t agree, they can go.”
Fernando claimed that three top international coaches have wished to work for Sri Lanka national cricket team. However, he hasn’t revealed the names of interested coaches.