Sri Lanka coach Paul Farbrace says that young players stepping up to the plate when it is needed most has been one of the biggest positives achieved by Sri Lanka during the concluded 2014 Arise Asia Cup tournament.
Sri Lanka led by Angelo Mathews crushed Pakistan by 5-wkts in the final in Mirpur in early March to register their fifth Asia Cup title, while Farbrace in his maiden major international assignment as head coach passed off with flying colours.
The former England first-class wicket-keeper batsman of Kent in an interview with ‘Ceylon Today’ identified Chathuranga de Silva, LahiruThirimanne, Kusal Janith Perera, Sachithra Senanayake and Ashan Priyanjan as a few of the youngsters who had grabbed their opportunities to make an impact during the 2014 Asia Cup tournament.
“Fair Play to the selectors,” Farbrace, who is into his second stint as coach of Sri Lanka having previously been understudy to Trevor Bayliss said.
“Each of these players was given a decent run in the side which had allowed them to deliver at different stages of the Asia Cup. So many of them came up with sterling performances and with the seniors too coming to the party at critical stages it turned out to be a complete performance. But, for me personally as head coach the most pleasing aspect of the Asia Cup were the newcomers producing the goods when thrown to the deep end.”
Farbrace who was a member of the Sri Lanka coaching staff who was injured following the terrorist attack on the team bus in Lahore in March 2009, described the ‘real icing on the cake’ for Sri Lanka during the unbeaten Asia Cup campaign was the emergence of Angelo Mathews as a captain to be reckoned with apart from the skill set he brings as an all-rounder.
“Angelo came of age as a captain in the Asia Cup as he led from the front. He bowls, then he bats and every time he went to the crease he got runs, without playing any big shots. To me he looks like a very comfortable and natural leader and I feel he grew massively during the time he spent in Bangladesh. Angelo is a very passionate young man who believes strongly in Sri Lankan Cricket and I believe he will be the captain for many, many years to come. And he will win a lot of kudos for the way in which he players the game.”
The former director of cricket at Kent and ex Yorkshire director of coaching who is on a two-year contract with the national teamculminating with the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia-New Zealand said that he was ready to preside over the gradual fading out process of stalwarts of the national side. Recently two former Sri Lanka captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene announced their retirements from T20 cricket after the ICC World Cup in Bangladesh.
He remarked that the amount of talent that Sri Lanka is blessed with was enviable and added that if the selectors could strike the right balance between seniors and juniors ahead of all upcoming assignments he would be surprised if the islanders will look back having broken the jinx of getting over the line in finals.
Farbrace also commented that the public must not expect the youngsters to become the next Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan and Malinga andinsisted that world class superstars cannot ever be replaced.
He pointed out that the youngsters need to understand that they have to carve their own niche in the game or be their own man rather than trying to become the next superstar of the side.
“If this mental state can be sorted out then I feel the people like
Mathews, Chandimal, Thirimanne, Kusal Janith, Chathuranbga, Suranga Lakmal, Ajantha Mendis and the rest who are now become all the rage,will be able to command their own following from the fans as they move into the future.”
The thickset Englishman dismissed claims that not possessing any international Test caps was a drawback in his bid to continue as head coach of the island nation.
He alluded to the fact that caps was not the criteria with which how good a coach could be summed up and pointed out that he was more into man-management style of coaching while always being prepared to learn on the job.
Farbrace mentioned former England all-rounder and reputed coach Bob Woolmer as his coaching guru and even noted that he had learned muchfrom his interactions with coaches of the caliber of Gary Kirsten, Andy Flower and Darren Lehmann etc.
The Englishman said that he has not yet decided whether to bring in any foreign input to his existing coaching staff which he termed as a’superb set of ex-players who are putting their shoulders to the wheel day in and day out’. But, he said if and when needed he will discuss with SLC to address any issues on that front.
