Sri Lanka Ignoring Local Talent For 'Garbage' Foreign Coaches: Arjuna Ranatunga

Former World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga slammed Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday, accusing it of hiring “garbage” foreign coaches while ignoring local talent. Sri Lanka won the World Cup o

The country’s governing body last month hired Tom Moody, an Australian former Test player who coached Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2007, as a consultant tasked with reviving the game and rebuilding the national team.

Other former foreign coaches included Bruce Yardley, John Dyson, Paul Farbrace, Graham Ford, and Geoff Marsh. The World Cup-winning coach in 1996 was Sri Lankan-born Australian Dav Whatmore.

Former national Test star Chandika Hathurusingha coached Sri Lanka from 2018 to 2019 but was sacked following the team’s disappointing World Cup exit that year.

He previously coached Bangladesh and is currently the assistant coach of state side New South Wales in Australia. Ranatunga added that mounting scrutiny in recent years over cricket corruption in Sri Lanka had painted his country in a negative light.

In 2019, then sports minister Harin Fernando introduced tough anti-corruption laws, after saying the International Cricket Council considered Sri Lanka the most corrupt cricketing nation.