Jerry Woutersz has bluntly turned down former captain Aravinda De Silva led advisory committee’s 6 months contract proposal for Sri Lanka national team manager position, Cricket Age reliably learns.
Sri Lanka are due to play a series of three T20Is and three ODIs against England from 23 June to 8 July. The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was hoping to appoint Woutersz as permanent team manager ahead of the tour. However, a disagreement over the time period of the contract has put things on hold.
“Aravinda De Silva led advisory committee offered him (Woutersz) 6 months contract, but he refused, as he was demanding for one year contract. It has left SLC with no other choice but to retain women’s cricket coordinator Manuja Kariyapperuma, who is shouldering the responsibility on interim basis since last few series” an Insider at advisory committee told Cricket Age.
De Silva led advisory committee has also been accused of not going through all the applications and short listing only their favorites for the manager post.
“Even though 14 candidates had applied for the job, only these 5 were called for the Interview. Many others, who have served for the similar post in national setup, are disappointed that they were not given a chance to present their vision” a candidate, who was deliberately ignored like many others, told Cricket Age.
On May 11, Cricket Age had published that SLC CEO Ashley de Silva and technical advisory committee has shortlisted five candidates after taking interviews. Apart from Woutersz, the other shortlisted candidates are – Farveez Maharoof, Manuja Kariyapperuma, Mahinda Halangoda and one from University of Ruhana.
There are also accusations are that the technical advisory committee had already finalized the manager, that’s why others were not interviewed.
“While other deserving candidates were snubbed, at 71, Jerry Woutersz was called for the interview. It’s also shocking that Maharoof is shortlisted, even though he had a notorious past with U19 team” another candidate, who had applied for the post but was not called for the Interview, told Cricket Age.
