Bipin Dani
Former Sri Lankan opening batter Avishka Gunawardene will be joining the national team as its batting coach, it is reliably learnt.
According to the well-placed sources in the SLC, the 45-year-old Avishka Gunawardene was conveyed about this decision on Tuesday and is scheduled to join the squad on Thursday.
“We are trying to groom the local coaches and as per this new policy, he will replace Thilina Kandamby, who was a batting coach in New Zealand”, the source, speaking exclusively over the telephone from Colombo, said.
This, however, is not Avishka’s first assignment with the senior team. He has already worked with the national team on a few occasions. He is now working with the A team at the High Performance Centre.
Few newcomers The national selectors have included not less than three players in the squad for the Test series against Ireland. “They had sent a list of 24 players and 15 are to be in the team for the first Test”, one of the sources confirmed.
The newcomers are : Dushan Hemantha, Milan Rathnayake, Ashan Madhushanka. The two Test-series will be played at Galle (April 16-20 & April 24-28).
