Jayasuriya named full-time SL head coach

Sanath Jayasuriya was appointed Sri Lanka cricket head coach on Monday, replacing Chris Silverwood who quit following the country’s early exit from the T20 World Cup.Jayasuriya, 55, had been in interim charge since June and on Monday was appointed full-time coach until March 2026 after recent successes, which included a Test match win in England and a home 2-0 Test series sweep against New Zealand.Sri Lanka also won a one-day international series against India for the first time in 27 years under Jayasuriya.The former Sri Lanka captain said his appointment was a dream come true."It is a challenging job, I know that... but I want to take the challenge and move forward with the team,” he told reporters in Colombo."There are no words for me to express my happiness”.His immediate challenge is to prepare his players for three ODIS and three T20s against the visiting West Indies starting next week."What I have always said is that it’s all about confidence and trust. I created that around the team and that’s very important,” Jayasuriya said. "And I think there was a little bit of luck also. You may do a lot of work, but you need that luck sometimes."At the same time, the players are determined to do well. They know what they went through over the last couple of years. They were really down and I asked the people to support the Sri Lanka cricketers."They are a good bunch of cricketers and they are talented."Only thing I gave was confidence, and I am there with them. They can talk to me and discuss anything.”He said he was at an advantage over foreign coaches because he could talk to players in their native language."It’s easy for me to communicate first and foremost,” he said. "Any issues they have they can speak with me freely, and it’s easy to sort out. They have the confidence to do that. They also know what sort of cricket I played, so they know the value I bring."But I have a responsibility as a local coach, I don’t have favourites. I will always play the team that is best for Sri Lanka cricket. I know that after me, it’s unlikely that a local coach will get this role. So there’s a responsibility I have on that end as well.”"In practice, we try and find different ways to do them [training sessions],” he said. "I want to make them interesting. Even before we start training, we’ve done little changes to create a nice atmosphere. So there are little things I do but it goes a long way."The basics are very important. And that they enjoy, and that they are focusing [on]. But like I always say, focus maximum and when you finish, switch off."I don’t need to put them under pressure when they are not playing and the game is finished.”He is regarded as one of the greatest one-day international batsmen of all time and was pivotal in Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup victory.Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva said they decided to go with Jayasuriya despite shortlisting several foreign coaches.De Silva said the remuneration package offered to Sanath was comparable to what would have been paid to a foreign coach, but declined to give details.Jayasuriya represented Sri Lanka 586 times across the three formats of the game, hitting 42 centuries and taking 440 wickets. He played his last international in 2011.The former national selector has also had a brush with the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption unit, and was banned from all forms of cricket for two years in 2018. Jayasuriya was charged after failing to hand over his mobile phones, and was accused of obstructing or delaying any investigation into corruption in the game.He is also an ex-lawmaker and a former deputy minister of the postal service.