Internet Desk: Sri Lanka cricket board today announced that they have appointed former pacer Rumesh Ratnayake as the new fast bowling coach of the side.
Ratnayake will take the charge from Champaka Ramanayake for the side which is currently on the verge of facing a whitewash against India at their home soil in a three-match Test rubber.
“Sri Lanka Cricket is pleased to announce the appointment of Rumesh Ratnayake as the Head of Fast Bowling for SLC,” Sri Lanka Cricket said in a release.
“Ratnayake will head the National Fast Bowling programme, spearheading its talent identification, skills development and training processes in cohesion with the National High Performance plan.”
Ratnayake is known for his nine-wicket haul against India in 1985/86 which resulted in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test series victory against India a series in which Ratnayake’s match bag was 20 wickets.
Ratnayake whose career was cut short by injury has a innings best bowling figure of 6/66.
Meanwhile, last night, Sri Lanka Cricket conducted a motivational session for their national team ahead of this week’s third and final Test.
Sri Lanka faced a barrage of criticism after being beaten by India by an innings and 53 runs last Saturday in the second Test match. The visitors had defeated Sri Lanka by 304 runs in the first Test.
To boost the sagging morale of the team, former Test great Aravinda de Silva gave the pep talk and advised the team to ignore comments on social media and gossip websites and get on with the game.