Sri Lanka appoint Hathurusingha as full-time coach

Colombo, Dec 8 - Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Friday appointed former Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha as head coach on a three-year contract, starting December 20.

Hathurusingha's first full assignment will be a two-Test tour of Bangladesh in January. Incidentally, he quit as Bangladesh head coach in October this year, according to a espncricinfo report.

The 49-year-old Hathurusingha worked with New South Wales before joining Bangladesh. During his tenure, Bangladesh made steady progress particularly in ODI cricket winning against India, Pakistan and South Africa.

Under him, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka for the first time in Test cricket and also enjoyed Test wins over England and Australia.

But his stint was cut short after a dismal tour of South Africa, although he was contracted till the 2019 World Cup.

There were concerns that Hathurusingha will not be able to coach Sri Lanka in Bangladesh as he was contractually bound to give three months notice before taking up another assignment. 

The former Sri Lanka all-rounder is expected to forgo one month's salary from BCB and SLC is believed to be compensating him.

IANS