SLC appoint Naveed Nawaz as assistant coach of senior men’s team

Former Sri Lankan cricketer Naveed Nawaz has been appointed as the assistant head coach of the senior men’s team and he will join the likes of Chris Silverwood in the coaching responsibilities for a two-year contract. Nawaz played one Test and three ODIs in his international career for Sri Lanka but he had a wide range of experience in first-class cricket. He also has an excellent coaching record having taken Bangladesh to the U19 World Cup title in 2020.

Naveed and Silverwood together will start their duties for the Island nation from the upcoming two-match Test tour of Bangladesh. The other coaching staff for the Bangladesh tour would be Chaminda Vaas as the team’s fast bowling coach while Puyal Wijetunge and Manoj Abeywickrama will take over the spin department and fielding department respectively.

After Mickey Arthur had stepped down as head coach, Sri Lanka had appointed Rumesh Ratnayake as the interim head coach until they found a new full-time head coach. At the same time, England had also removed Chris Silverwood from the head coach position post the dismal show in the Ashes and that meant that Sri Lanka bagged the services of Silverwood as their head coach.

Sri Lanka to tour Bangladesh in May

Sri Lanka will tour Bangladesh for the two-match Test series with the first one starting on May 15 in Chattogram while the second Test will get underway on May 23 in Dhaka. Sri Lanka is coming off a series defeat against India in both Tests and the limited-overs series while Bangladesh is coming off a historic ODI series win in South Africa. However, they lost the Test series to the Proteas but will fancy their chances at home against Sri Lanka.

The two Tests between the nation will also be part of the World Test Championship cycle 2021-23. Currently, Sri Lanka is placed fifth in the World Test Championship points table while Bangladesh is just one above the bottom-placed England side at the eighth position.