Inclusion of Brett Lee and Jonty Rhodes could be an inspiring change in the cricket of Sri Lanka which has seen more downs than the ups in recent time.
While Rhodes has substantial amount of coaching experience, Lee is also associated with various coaching camps around the world. (Photo: Jonty Rhodes- Getty Images, Brett Lee- Twitter/CricketNSW.)
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is believed to be making efforts to rope in the services of Brett Lee and Jonty Rhodes as the bowling and fielding coach respectively for the men’s senior national team.
According to Ceylon Today, a local daily in the island nation, SLC have set out a vision to regain their lost cricketing prowess and are thus trying to acquire the services of the two legends of the game.
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Rhodes was in the country recently to coach some school teams, while Lee is likely to join forces with another bowling great Wasim Akram, who showed interest to help the Lankan bowlers. However, the report contained no further information regarding the Pakistan legend’s appointment.
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Former South African cricketer, Rhodes is often considered as the father-figure who brought revolution in the fielding department. He would be the perfect choice for the Dimuth Karunaratne-led side to get accustomed with the modern-day fielding techniques.
Lee, who has over 700 international wickets, could be the most high-profile bowling coach in Sri Lanka’s history. Given the lacklustre performance of the Lankan bowlers in recent times, the Australian great will have a task cut out for him to revive the bowling attack and get it to international standards.
On the field, Sri Lanka have had a roller-coaster ride in 2019. After starting the year with a historic Test series victory in South Africa, the islanders were subject to a horrible World Cup run in England. Following the depletion of World Cup, they hosted New Zealand for a two-match Test series which ended 1-1.
Their next cricketing assignments came in the form of a much-talked-about tour to Pakistan. As most of the senior players backed out of the series, SLC were forced to send a second-string team. Despite losing the ODI series, the young Sri Lankan team put up a spirited display to whitewash the T20 series 3-0.
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