Roy Dias to be replaced as under 19 coach | Daily News
A permanent coach will be appointed soon – Ashley de Silva

Roy Dias to be replaced as under 19 coach

The Sri Lanka under 19 World Cup squad held a press conference at SLC headquarters yesterday after their return from New Zealand. From left: chairman of selectors Graeme Labrooy, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, Sri Lanka under 19 captain Kamindu Mendis and Sri Lanka under 19 coach Roy Dias. Picture by Ranjith Asanka
The Sri Lanka under 19 World Cup squad held a press conference at SLC headquarters yesterday after their return from New Zealand. From left: chairman of selectors Graeme Labrooy, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, Sri Lanka under 19 captain Kamindu Mendis and Sri L

The Sri Lankan under 19 cricketers finished ninth in the recently concluded ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup tournament held in New Zealand.

Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the Super League stage winning only against Ireland and losing to Afghanistan and Pakistan and had to play in the Plate round where they managed to win beating West Indies in the final.

Agreeing that winning the Plate was not quite a high achievement for the team Ashley de Silva Chief Executive Officer of SLC said that the preparations the squad underwent prior to the World Cup was one of the best ever.

“The program commenced in 2016 with Roy Dias being appointed as a full time coach for the squad. The squad went on five oversea tours to gain the necessary exposure for the players to compete in the highest level,” de Silva stated at a press conference held at SLC yesterday.

“A permanent coach will be appointed soon by SLC as the present contract period for Roy Dias, the current coach comes to an end shortly,” De Silva said.

Explaining further, De Silva stated, “The preparation tour started with South Africa playing a home series in 2016 which was followed by wins in England and in South Africa (tri-nation) in 2017. It was followed by a tour to Australia and competing in the Asia Cup held in Malaysia. In addition there were two warm-up matches played prior to the start of the under 19 World Cup that provided the pathway to young cricketers to gain international exposure. Unfortunately the team could not live up to expectations.”

“Even though we failed to qualify for the second round in the World Cup, we were able to identify some of the talented players who had performed well. These players have a bright future ahead of them and could play in the national squad. It was a worthy investment and it has somewhat paid off,” said the CEO.

Defending the move to leave out Hasitha Boyagoda after just one match in the World Cup, chairman of selectors Graeme Labrooy who accompanied the team as selector on tour said, “We left Hasitha out because of his poor batting performance in the first match against Ireland. We came to a decision that after Hasitha’s poor performance it was better for us to use an extra fast bowler in the next two games taking the pitch’s conditions into consideration.”

Boyagoda recalled to the side in the Plate match against Kenya hit a record breaking 191 off 152 balls – the highest ever score made in under 19 cricket that placed him on top of the Under 19 World Cup achievements. His knock enabled Sri Lanka to record their highest ever Under 19 ODI total 419-4 against Kenya. 


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