Sri Lanka Cricket at present has been given a small reshuffle which has pleased many fans as it has seen the re-emergence of some of the local idols of two decades past.
With a few from the world conquering side of 1996 most of them who still instill a lot of faith in the Sri Lanka hearts.
The re-emergence of the 96 Heroes
The 1996 World cup winning team sported a certain aura in that time with each and every player bringing something to the table. SLC has been undergoing a rebuilding phase starting off with the selection panel headed by none other than, the master blaster himself, Sanath Jayasuriya. He has been joined by 1996 era paceman Pramodya Wickramasinghe. Former skipper Hashan Thilakaratne has been named as the full time selector for Sri Lanka cricket and will also function as the manager for the ongoing tours.
There are rumors that the Sri Lanka’s greatest bastions of bowling work horse Chaminda Vaas and the wily old fox, Muttiah Muralidaran will take up duties as national bowling coaches. Vaasy, the king of swing brings a ton of knowledge with him and his recent stint with the visiting Kiwis gave an insight to his prowess as a coach. What anyone can learn from the legendary Muttiah Muralidaran can only be left to the imagination and youngsters passing through these greats could consider themselves privileged to learn the tricks from not only Sri Lanka’s finest, but a duo that have set standards for the rest of the world’s bowlers.
‘Little Kalu’ has been with the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team since 2009 and together with his trusted fielding partner and under 19 fielding coach Upul Chandana, the duo have been doing an admirable job grooming young guns to the big stage. Marvan Attapattu who was heralded as technically sound in his batting is already running the show as the mainstay batting coach of the national team and has made a clear impact on the batsmen’s technique playing in foreign conditions.
All there needs to be done is perhaps (tongue in the cheek) put Arjuna Ranatunga at the helm of Sri Lanka Cricket and the fans would rest easy.
ThePapare.com together with its fans wish these heroes to take the nation in to a new era of cricket.