COLOMBO: Members of the Sri Lanka national selection committee will serve as team managers during their national, ‘A’ and ‘emerging’ sides’ upcoming tours, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced on Wednesday.

SLC has also appointed former batting great Roy Dias and Avishka Gunawardene as coaches of the ‘A’ and Emerging sides respectively.

Dias’ upcoming assignment with the ‘A’ team will be their tour of India in May this year. Chaminda Mendis, who is also the national selector, will function as the Team Manager for the tour.

Dias, who was one of the finest batsmen produced by the small island, has prior experience with coaching Sri Lanka’s youth teams, having coached the under-19 team in 2016, when Sri Lanka hosted the Youth Asia Cup, and in the 2018 under 19 World Cup.

Dias’ coaching resume also includes stints with the Sri Lanka national team, apart from Nepal and Malaysia.

Gunawardene, who has previously coached the ‘A’ team and served as batting coach for the national team, will now coach the ‘Emerging’ team for their tour of South Africa in June.

Hemantha Wickramaratne was appointed as the team manager for the said tour, continuing to function as a national selector apart from his new role.

Asantha de Mel, who bowled the first ball in Test cricket for Sri Lanka, will serve as the team manager for the upcoming World Cup in England and Wales.

De Mel is also Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors and will also work as the tour selector during the multi-starrer tournament that starts on May 30.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2019