By Jatila Karawita
Chairman of the Interim Committee of the BCCSL Hemaka Amarasuriya defended the decision taken by the Cricket Board to appoint two additional coaches and a extra physio to the Sri Lanka team at present touring England as a measure intended to make the national side reach world class standards in the run up to the 2003 cricket World Cup.

Former South African star Barry Richards is at present functioning as batting coach while Australian Darryl Foster is handling the bowling department in addition to Sri Lanka’s head coach Dav Whatmore and physio Alex Khounturi.

"These appointments have been done in consultations with Whatmore. We are trying to build a world class team to win the World Cup. You can’t expect Whatmore to be master of everything.

"If I run a company I am not going to handle marketing and finance, do my resource and production and corporate planning and everything" said Amarasuriya in response to questions raised by journalists at a news conference last Tuesday, as to what purpose the extra coaches would serve.

Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Selection Committee Michael Tissera agreed with Amarasuriya, pointing to the fact that South Africa had no fewer than eight additional coaches in their ranks during their 1996 World Cup campaign.

"The South African side had eight people in addition to then head coach, Bob Woolmer. They had a dietician , a physio; they had a psychologist, a batting coach, a bowling coach" stressed Tissera.

Interim Committee member Sidath Wettimuny said the additional appointments were made with specific intentions and with the motive of building up a strong team to compete at the World Cup.

"We are working towards trying to achieve something.

We’ve specifically had the World Cup in mind and hard on the heels of the English tour we have got three tours to South Africa, Australia and the World Cup in South Africa especially on fast tracks.

"Therefore we, and the players themselves, felt if we could use the expertise of Barry Richards and Darryl Forster it would give our players a better chance".

The Cricket Board Chief expressed his confidence that age would not be an obstacle for present team manager Chandra Schaffter to perform his duties on tour, after journalists questioned as to what the BCCSL policy is with regard to appointing coaches with a stipulated age requirement of 55.

Schaffter (72) a former Sri Lanka paceman was appointed as manager after the removal of then manager Air Commodore Ajith Jayasekera just before the national teams departure to Pakistan for the Asian Test Championship final in Lahore.

"If the man is 72 years old and if he could do a good job then I feel he is eligible to handle that job". Wettimuny said the Cricket Board was yet to take a final decision on whether to appoint the manager on a three year scale or on a tour-by-tour basis.

Hemaka Amarasuriya justified the presence of himself, his Interim Committee Secretary Kushil Gunasekera, and two selectors in UAE for the Sharjah Cup last month. "There was no BCCSL money spent for this visit. It was due to Abdul Rahman Bukhathir’s generosity that he invited us and I don’t see any harm in some of these officials going out. After all we are not going on a picnic. We go there. We watch the games and we come back. And don’t you think it is a good idea that selectors should watch games ? " asked Amarasuriya.

Former Sri Lanka ‘A’ team coach Roshan Mahanama told journalists that if he finds it difficult to continue to work according to his principles and policies he would not hesitate to resign from the present interim committee as well.

" I work steadfastly keeping to my policies. I never waver in my decision-making process. If I take on a job I try my very best to fulfil my obligations no matter how hard they may be, and if I feel that there is no opportunity to work according my conviction and my policies I will not be reluctant to leave this Interim Committee" said Mahanama. He explained that he was compelled to resign as ‘A’ team coach as he felt there could not be space for two people to function as coach of the same team.

He said that certain officials of the then Interim Committee headed by Vijaya Malalasekera had not seen eye to eye with him , but the present Interim Committee Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya was hopeful Mahanama will continue to serve his term along with his committee.