Nic Pothas likely to be the permanent Sri Lankan coach

There have been a lot of changes in the Sri Lankan administration of late. Be it in the management, Board or the team itself, cricket in the island nation is going through an evolutionary process. The retirement of the greats in Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena has left a huge void in the team and the path towards filling that gap should be a carefully cleared one.

However,the current talk in the team is on the posting of a new coach for the team after the differences between the Sri Lankan cricket Board and former coach Graham Ford resulted in the latter’s sacking post a dismal performance in the Champions Trophy.

The likely man for the job

The current interim coach of the Sri Lankan team, Nic Pothas stands a likely chance of taking over the mantle of the team permanently according to Sri Lankan cricket president, Thilanga Sumathipala. Pothas, a former South African and Hampshire wicket keeper, has been the fielding coach of the team since August of last year and was asked to be the interim coach for the home series against Zimbabwe and India after the Champions Trophy.

“We have every confidence that Nic Pothas can take on the role of head coach and carry on, that’s why we have appointed him for the Zimbabwe and India series. We have a strategic plan to engage the next coach and Nic Pothas is also a good contender for it,” SLC President Sumathipala was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

“There are professional coaches who are currently engaged and shown a lot of interest and we are confident we will have one at the end of the Indian tour. We will not have to look too far to find somebody who will be competent to take this team till the 2019 World Cup.”

“We will have to first discuss with our cricket committee and our support team the plan and structure – what kind of coach that we are looking at. When we looked at Dav Whatmore he was a developing coach, he could develop an ordinary team to a world class side,” he added.

Sri Lanka will kick off their home season against Zimbabwe in a short series after which they will have a full series against India starting July 26.