Rumesh leaves women's cricket with lot of hope for future

■SLC on lookout for replacement

- BY SA’ADI THAWFEEQ

Rumesh Ratnayake completes a successful stint as Women's Head Coach

RUMESH Ratnayake, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler will not have his contract as Head Coach of the national women’s cricket team renewed, but instead will serve Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in the role of Coach at the High Performance Centre (HPC) at Khettarama.

Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva said that Ratnayake’s coaching experience will be utilised in different areas with the HPC.

As regards a new head coach for the women’s team, De Silva said that SLC had advertised for the post and have received several responses and after conducting interviews a suitable person would be picked. It could be a local or a foreign coach depending on their availability, he said.

Under Ratnayake’s watchful eyes the Sri Lanka women’s team has grown in stature from where it was before he took over in February 2023. Ratnayake has transformed a team that was lagging behind other nations to rub shoulders with the top sides and also beat them.

The Sri Lanka's Women’s cricketers secured a historic 2-1 victory against South Africa in the Women’s T20I series in the wake of hammering England in England to capping it by bringing down Asian giants India in the 2024 Asia Cup final to ending their longtime domination in the Asia Cup.

"I have been in the system for 3 years, what I brought to the system is creating an environment, a learning and free environment for the girls to do things their own way," said Ratnayake.