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As of Wednesday, Mickey Author was named head of cricket at Derbyshire.
At the just-completed T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka was unable to go past the quarterfinals.
Coaching stints in Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka were all under Arthur’s belt.
Cricket officials revealed Thursday that Sri Lanka has hired a former captain and many ex-players to replace Mickey Arthur, who will join the English county team Derbyshire next month.
Cricket officials revealed Thursday that Sri Lanka has hired a former captain and many ex-players to replace Mickey Arthur, who will join the English county team Derbyshire next month. English-language newspaper The Island quoted unnamed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources as saying that Mahela Jayawardene had been asked to take over as coach and mentor of the national squad. He tried to lift the spirits of the Sri Lankan team during the most recent T20 World Cup, but the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
In response to AFP’s questions, Jayawardene claimed that “no one has spoken to me, you should ask SLC”.
In addition to Jayawardene, other recently retired players, including Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, and Lasith Malinga, would join the team as consultant coaches for a two-year period, according to The Island.
A board official told AFP that the language barrier that local athletes confront when interacting with a foreign coach was a primary priority for the organization.
It’s possible that there won’t be a head coach in place right away, according to a source who asked not to be identified.
“The goal is to hire local instructors who can communicate with the players on a basic level.”
Prior to Chandika Hathurusingha’s dismissal as Sri Lanka’s head coach in December 2017, the squad had finished sixth at the 2019 ODI World Cup.
A two-match Test series against West Indies will be Mickey Arthur’s last for Sri Lanka.
Disgruntled fans had started a boycott of Sri Lankan players in July after a succession of defeats abroad prompted Arthur to take them off social media.
Players were “totally pounded” on social media, according to the coach, who stated that it was hurting their judgment and attitude as they prepared for the T20 World Cup.
Sri Lanka qualified for the tournament but lost three of their four games in the “Super-12” stage to miss out on a place in the semi-finals.
Former South African, Australian, and Pakistani coach Arthur said he was sad to leave Sri Lanka, but believed the squad was in a better position than when he took over two years ago.
On Twitter, he remarked, “Sad that it’s over with SL after the WI test series!”
