Former Durham player and coach, Jonathan (Jon) Lewis has been roped in as the National batting coach replacing Thilan Samaraweera, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed today in a Media Release.
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The former Sri Lankan batting stalwart, Thilan Samaraweera, will have to vacate the position soon after Sri Lanka’s 2-match Test series against New Zealand as the Englishman Lewis is set to take over the role from the ODI leg of the tour. Former test player Samaraweera was appointed as batting coach in November last year.
Prior to accepting SLC’s offer, Jon Lewis was serving as the Head Coach of his county team, Durham. Since joining Durham from Essex in 1997 he has been part of the Durham team for 22 years.
22 years as a player, captain & coach
Thank you, Jon#ForTheNorth pic.twitter.com/3XRvdUarP8
— Durham CCC ? (@DurhamCricket) December 7, 2018
Durham’s third highest run-scorer with 7,854 runs in 146 first-class matches, Lewis was appointed as the Captain of Durham in 2000 and became the Head Coach in 2013.
Under his guidance the Durham county team has won the Division One County Championship in 2013, Royal London One-Day Cup in 2014 and also finished as runners-up of the NatWest T20 Blast in 2016.
“With his expertise and experience, I believe, Lewis will be able to bring in the required impetus to our batting, which needs stability” – Mr. Ashley De Silva, SLC CEO.
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This will be Lewis first foray into coaching a national team.
 Lewis has been roped in as the National batting coach replacing Thilan Samaraweera, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed today in a Media Release.){kind=link}