Officials bully hapless coach

POTHAS EVEN BLAMED THE MEDIA FOR PUTTING A “SPIN” TO HIS PREVIOUS STATEMENT AND THAT HE HAD NO ISSUES WITH THE SRI LANKAN BOARD.

PALLEKELE: Sri Lankan cricket, in crisis with the national team plunging from one low to another, scrambled on Wednesday to limit the public relations disaster that followed the defeat in the first ODI in Dambulla on Sunday.

Team’s interim coach, Nic Pothas had blasted the current set-up following the nine-wicket defeat at Dambulla saying “too many cooks” were responsible for the current plight of the national team, which was also routed 3-0 in the Test series.

However, on Wednesday, Sri Lanka Cricket took the drastic step of asking Pothas to issue a statement at the press conference ahead of the second ODI to be played here on Thursday.

Pothas this time said everything was fine with the team set-up and the processes put in place would pull Sri Lanka out of the rut. He even blamed the media for putting a “spin” to his previous statement and that he had no issues with the Sri Lankan cricket board.

His comments were in contrast to those made on Sunday. He had said the players suffered because there were too many people meddling in selection and decision-making. Stalwarts of the 1996 World Cup triumph, Sanath Jayasuriya (chief selector) and Asanka Gurusinha (cricket manager), play influen- tial roles.

“We will start off with a statement from the coach, and then a statement from the captain before we go to the Q& A,” announced Vrai Raymond, SLC’s media head. “We would like to limit it to tomorrow’s match and nothing else.”

With ODI skipper, Upul Tharanga, seated beside him, Pothas said: “We are in good shape at the moment. The boys are in very good spirits. As I mentioned before, we are focused on the processes and procedures which will stand us in good stead in the future. That future will take time as we have stated before.”

FEAR OF FAILURE, SAYS JAYAWARDENE

Mahela Jayawardene feels the fear of failure is impeding the growth of the Sri Lankan team. “I feel the team’s confidence is low. The fear of failure factor has come out. They don’t look confident, they don’t look hungry enough in the middle. They need to address that and find solutions very quickly,” Jayawardene told Cricinfo.