Jayaratne, who took over as the interim coach after Marvan Attapattu resigned after a series loss against India said, “”We are now the worst fielding side in Asia, we were never behind Pakistan but now we have gone behind them,” Jayaratne told The Nation.
“India proved that they were better than us and even Bangladesh are fielding better than us,” he added. Jayaratne also cited many other reasons for the recent downfall of Sri Lanka.
“Other than the bowling which is holding the team together, the batting, fielding and fitness has let us down,” Jayaratne said.
“It’s a lot to do with the fitness levels. The way our guys are fielding they are carrying excess weight and we are in shambles,” he added. Jayaratne however remains confident of the role of Michael Main, who was appointed as the team’s trainer on a two-year deal. “Michael gave us a mind blowing presentation and showed where we are and where we need to get to,” he said, according to espncricinfo.com.
“What he tried to do in the first three months is he didn’t try to turn things around but observed everything. Now he has decided how he is going to take this forward and at the presentation he was given a full green light to go ahead in whatever he wants to do,” he added. Jayaratne went on, “I have a very strong belief if we give Michael about four to six months he can turn things around. He has got the players to sign documents like signing a contract that they need to reach desired targets in particular time duration otherwise they are going to be in trouble.
“He has assessed them and given them time targets, some they cannot do before the West Indies series but definitely you can see the boys are working towards that. Everybody’s got individual programs and targets and they have taken it seriously,” Jayaratne said.
Jayaratne however admits that he was surprised that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) picked him as the coach for the team, something he did not expect. “I was asked to stand in as stopgap coach for an interim period until they found a coach from overseas,” Jayaratne said. “I wouldn’t have said yes if I wasn’t up to it,” he concluded.
Source - cricketcountry.com
