Sri Lanka Cricket appoint Chaminda Vaas as fast bowling consultant

In a bid to monitor the progress of pacers across the country, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have appointed Chaminda Vaas as their fast bowling consultant. Unlike his previous tenure as bowling coach, the new role will see the former seam bowler engaged at the grassroots level.

Selection committee consultant Aravinda de Silva hailed the appointment and revealed Sri Lanka’s goal of developing a pool of quick bowlers in order to triumph outside Asia on bouncy pitches.

Vaas represented the Lankans in 111 Tests and 322 ODIs with 355 and 400 scalps respectively. Aside from his proven track record as a bowler, he also worked with three different teams in a coaching capacity.

Aravinda said, “I've been trying to get a few former cricketers to agree to work with us. We feel he (Vaas) will be really good working with some of our young cricketers from the grassroots level. He'll work with fast bowlers from around the country, identify talent, get them in to work with the under-19, development and A team squads which feed into the national team.”

He added, “We want our coaches to go deep into the district and provincial levels and also to help the clubs. If any coach in a club needs some assistance, we're happy to allocate some of the bowling coaches to go and spend some time with those relevant clubs. We want to put some schedules together. So they can go right around the country, Vaas' job will be one of those. He will be a floating coach who will go around and do the identification.”

Although Sri Lanka have capitalized on Australia’s spin weakness to seal an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing home Test series, De Silva wanted his team to compete outside the subcontinent as well.

Eager to build a viable battery of fast bowlers, Aravinda claimed, “We have to develop teams to win outside the country, not just on turning wickets, but to win in Australia on those fast wickets.”