COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s outgoing coach Trevor Bayliss on Thursday said the country needed a strong and stable cricket administration to allow players to focus only on the game and not be distracted by politics.
“On the field, we’ve done pretty well for past 18 months,” Bayliss said in an interview with AFP. “Getting to the World Cup final itself is an achievement, though we lost (to India).” But off the field, Australian-born Bayliss said, Sri Lanka could improve the way the game was being run in the country. “Good teams like Australia usually have got strong or good management backing the team up. That’s an area we can improve here.”
Sri Lanka Cricket has been run by an interim committee appointed by the sports minister since 2005. The minister picks the selectors, who also keep changing.
“I am constantly amazed how well the players do (on the field), with all the distractions put in front of them. It seems to be the sub-continent way. That’s a skill in itself,” said Bayliss, 48.
