New cricket coach South African Mickey Arthur said that Sri Lanka has to play a brand of cricket that is going to make them successful in T20 Internationals.
Arthur was replying to a question raised by the media at a press conference held at SLC headquarters on Thursday.
“Months before the World T-20 we cannot put a team together so the tour of India is going to be crucial for us,” said Arthur who held his first practice session with the Sri Lankan squad preparing for the tour of Pakistan.
Sri Lanka are scheduled to play India in three T20I commencing January 5.
“We have about eight months from thereon. We are going to get a brand that we want. We need to get a brand that we think is going to be successful in Australia. Then we need to get the players and give them constant opportunities and persevere with them. Australia is tough as the conditions are very different,” said Arthur. Australia is the venue for the next ICC World T20 which will be held in October 2020.
Sri Lanka recently toured Australia for three T20I and were beaten 3-0.
Arthur also praised the efforts of Jerome Jayaratne and Ashley de Silva for having put together a high performance program.
“Whatever I have seen so far has been outstanding. The high performance program that Jerome Jayaratne and Ashley de Silva have put together is superb. I am very positive and I am excited to work with these gentlemen,” said Arthur.
Jayaratne was appointed Chief Cricket Operations Officer with effect from November 15 and Ashley de Silva is the CEO of SLC.
SLC president Shammi Silva said that the ExCo has decided to reduce the number of teams participating in the Premier League to ten in each of the two Tiers over the next two years. The upcoming league which is scheduled to commence in mid-February will see the last two teams from Tier A and Tier B being demoted, thus reducing the number of teams for each Tier to 10 each for the following season.
Silva also said that grants to clubs will also increase by Rs. 9 million more than last year for Tier A clubs and by Rs. 5.5m for Tier B clubs. He also stated that SLC had contracted 70 players for the domestic tournaments.
Speaking further Silva said that the 2019-20 domestic cricket season would commence on December 14 with the Premier fifty overs tournament and that in August next year SLC had reserved a window to hold the Lankan Premier League (LPL) with international stars.
“We chose August to avoid the 100-ball game in England,” said Silva who also revealed that SLC will open a 45-room dormitory at Khettarama Stadium after Christmas for the use of cricketers. He said the construction of three swimming pools was also in progress at Khettarama, Pallekele and Dambulla stadiums.
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