Kalpage, Ramanayake set for Bangladesh job

[Antora]

I'm not sure if a thread like this has already been open...but Ramanayake is going to be our fast bowling coach

Champaka Ramanayake, the former Sri Lankan fast bowler, has been appointed the fast bowling coach of Bangladesh for the next two years. Bangladesh have also roped in the services of former Sri Lankan offspinner Ruwan Kalpage as their high performance head coach to run their National Cricket Academy, which will be set up shortly in Mirpur, Dhaka.

Speaking about his switch in allegiance, Ramanayake, who also headed Sri Lanka's Fast Bowling Academy for the past seven years said, "I would have loved to continue to help my country produce more fast bowlers, but at the same time I also had to look after myself financially. The offer from the Bangladesh Cricket Board was too attractive to turn down."

Ramanayake, 43, said he had no regrets in leaving his present job as he felt there were enough fast bowlers in the queue to serve Sri Lanka for the next two to three years. During his tenure at the academy, he had the privilege of working with many of the current crop of fast bowlers, the most notable being Lasith Malinga. He predicted that two young fast bowlers, Madura Lakmal Perera from Kalutara and Tamil Union's Suranga Lakmal, could be playing in the national team shortly.

"In the seventies and eighties the country depended to a large extent on spin," Ramanayake said. "The scenario has completely changed now with the national side sometimes fielding as many as three to four fast bowlers in a match."

He hasn't ruled out returning to his role in Sri Lanka once his contract with Bangladesh finishes. His assistant, Anusha Samaranayake, is expected to take over the role as head coach of the academy.

A Level I (English) and Level II (Australian) qualified coach, Ramanayake played first-class cricket for 20 years for Tamil Union and Galle CC, taking 480 wickets. He played 18 Tests (44 wickets) and 62 ODIs (68 wickets) for Sri Lanka between 1988 and 1995.

Kalpage's wealth of experience in coaching, including his work with junior Sri Lankan teams, helped him clinch the job in Bangladesh. Another former spinner Piyal Wijetunga, who has been assisting Kalpage, is expected to take on the role of spin bowling coach.

"It was too good an opportunity to miss," Kalpage said. "I had to think of my future. I thought here was a good opportunity for me to extend my experience and one day come back and be national coach of Sri Lanka."

Kalpage stated it was a new challenge for him to be invited to head an academy of a Test-playing nation and hoped his appointment would spark more opportunities for coaches in Sri Lanka.

"No Test playing country has made such an offer to Sri Lankans before and I consider it an honour. The experience I will gain is good for my future. It also opens the door for other Sri Lanka coaches as well. Several foreign coaches come to Sri Lanka with lucrative salaries and gain experience at different levels. This is an opportunity for us to show that we are also equally capable as the foreign coaches.

"At present we are not recognised on par with the foreign coaches in our own country. We don't have a proper salary structure in place and there is no proper grading of coaches. Thereby our coaches have no future here."

Kalpage's role as high performance head coach also involves setting up a proper A squad for Bangladesh and assisting their national team in spin bowling and fielding whenever required.

Kalpage played 11 Tests and 86 ODIs for Sri Lanka between 1992 and 1999, and is best remembered for his fielding. He assisted Trevor Chappell as Sri Lanka's fielding coach in 1999 before taking over his role in 2001. He fulfilled the task till 2005, but in 2004 he played a dual role when he was also appointed as the computer analyst of the team. He became the head coach of the Spinners Clinic in April 2006 and also coached the A team, and Under-19 and U-15 teams.

source-
http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/bang...ry/342631.html

[Nocturnal]

Originally Posted by antora93
I'm not sure if a thread like this has already been open...but Ramanayake is going to be our fast bowling coach

Champaka Ramanayake, the former Sri Lankan fast bowler, has been appointed the fast bowling coach of Bangladesh for the next two years. Bangladesh have also roped in the services of former Sri Lankan offspinner Ruwan Kalpage as their high performance head coach to run their National Cricket Academy, which will be set up shortly in Mirpur, Dhaka.
...

Very good news indeed.
We did already have a thread on this issue
Kalpage, Ramanayake set for Bangladesh job
(might need a merge)

[al-Sagar]

i think the news we got before was that both kalpage and champaka will join the HIGH PERFORMANCE coaching of academy

but now this news indicates that champaka will actually join the national teams coaching which is a very good news.

both of them are very good coaches and ihope bangladesh now have a good coaching team.

now the batsman and bowlers should start to perform and fans need to be patient

[WarWolf]

Wonderful move...

[Sohel]

I'm also looking forward to the positive impact these fellas will have with our so called curators Inshallah. We need the type of sporting pitches the Lankans have come up with of late for Malinga, Fernando and Vaas.

[abu2abu]

Ramanayake is not even a fast bowler, from what I've heard he bowled brisk medium at best. However, he's a fine coach and I think it's good that we are hiring coaches from Sri lanka. Recently, i think we have been over-reliant on aussie coaches...

[zainab]

I think that they need a very good fast bowling and spin bowling coach for the national team.

[fwullah]

So who will be our batting coach?

[Razi]

Originally Posted by fwullah
So who will be our batting coach?

lolz.....who do need man we have SIDDONS as our batting and head coach...!!!

[WarWolf]

Hope we will get a set of bowlers like Vaas, Malinga, Fernando, Mahroof in the next 2/3 years...

[Ishtylish cricketer]

Changes won't be seen till they change the infrastructure. Bowling, batting and fielding coaches are needed at lower levels first and foremost. If players arrive at the national team with no formal training/coaching, it will take long time for those players to get rid of their bad habits. Nevertheless, at least we have a bowling coach and now we are on par with other major cricketing nations in terms of coaching stuff.

[jisaan]

Originally Posted by zainab
I think that they need a very good fast bowling and spin bowling coach for the national team.

what should be the criteria for being "a very good fast bowling and spin bowling coach"

[lamisa]

how much are we paying this guy?

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by fwullah
So who will be our batting coach?

batting coach niya kita kortai? emni kormo 150, omnu kormu 160. laab to nai eto taka khorcha kore...

[jeesh]

I have been reading a few articles in the Lankan papers, and speaking to a few ppl. They are quite upset they lost Kalpage and Ramanayake to us. The reports stress on Sri Lankan Crickets crisis and inability to hold on to the good coaches the country has produced over the years. The more i hear all this, the more i am convinced this is a terrific move for us.
Kalpages appointment is a very smart move in my opinion. He can contribute to our cricket immensely in the areas of fielding and spin bowling. He has been working with some of Sri Lankas upcoming spinners.
Good move, hope this will pay off. Now we have specialists in more or less every area.

[U-17, 1999]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
academy coach is OK i supose. but hiring a Lankan as a fast bowlers coach is like hiring a west indian to be your spin bowling coach. makes no sense...

BCB makes a dumb move here.

they are always stupid

[jeesh]

Originally Posted by U-17, 1999

they are always stupid

This one was a smart one. Proven fast bowling coach, and trust me Sri Lanka has already started missing him. You gotta give credit to our board, there was a lot of thinking behind these signings.

[Orion]

so when is Ramanayake joining the national squad in training? I think having him on board will immensely benefit the likes of Shahadat, Mashrafe, Rasel and our upcoming fast bowlers including Dolar, Rubel and Sajidul.

[jeesh]

Still havent heard anything about their progress in BD.
Some interesting articles though:
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080316/Sports/sp208.html
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080330/Sports/sp201.html
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/03/14/spo02.asp

[Nocturnal]

Originally Posted by jeesh
Still havent heard anything about their progress in BD.
Some interesting articles though:
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080316/Sports/sp208.html
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080330/Sports/sp201.html
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/03/14/spo02.asp

thanks for sharing mate

[Nafi]

So.... when does this guy actually start working with our players

[mijanur]

also he cant fix those bangladeshi idots from bowling bad to good

[Eshen]

Originally Posted by Nafi
So.... when does this guy actually start working with our players

Kalpage is working as the head coach of the academy. I am assuming Ramanayake is currently working with academy pacers (I hope BCB will send national pacers to work with him soon).

[mshakir56]

Our bowlers were toothless in this series. Our spinners were pathetic as well. IF Afridi and Malik can extract turn on these pitches, then our so called specialist spinner Abdur Razzak, what was he doing?

[jeesh]

The press in BD dont seem too interested in these two coaches.