Committee appointed to oversee physical fitness, condition of Sri Lankan cricket team

 

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board said that a high-profile evaluation and monitoring committee was appointed yesterday to oversee the physical fitness and condition of the players.

The committee headed by Asanka Gurusinha will carry out the evaluation and monitoring process ahead of the upcoming campaigns against Zimbabwe and India in Colombo.

The move comes in the wake of Sri Lanka’s unfortunate exit in the quarter final stage of the Champions Trophy 2017, where they lost to Pakistan on June 12.

Elaborating on the plans set in motion, Team manager Asanka Gurusinha said, “We know how much resource and effort was invested in the team ahead of the CT17, and we know how much effort each and every player made both on and off the field – but we have to face the reality that we were just not good enough on that day, and studied the reasons behind this.

We had several internal discussions with the coaches, trainers, the selectors, and the players themselves, and we all agreed that there is a disparity in our fitness levels. We have incredibly talented cricketers, with the passion and the commitment to fly the flag on high – but they are not quite cricketing athletes, which is what we need to be.

The National Selectors met on June 16 and selected a provisional squad of 30 players.

These 30 players will undergo rigorous testing & evaluation this week, and will only make it into the squads for the Zimbabwe and India tours provided they meet the required grading”

The initial testing of the 30 member provisional squad was conducted this morning under the supervision of SLC HP Training and Rehabilitation Manager Nirmalan Thanabalasingham who commented –

“Sri Lanka Cricket High Performance Sports Medicine and Sports Science Department are running a battery of fitness tests encompassing body composition, speed, power and endurance.

We will provide this information to the selectors to help guide their decision making but more importantly give players a plan to improve areas of concern in a realistic time frame.”

The committee, National Selection Committee Chairman Sanath Jayasuriya, Team Manager Asanka Gurusinha, SLC Medical Panel Chairman Professor Arjuna de Silva, High Performance Manager Simon Willis, Rehabilitation Manager Nirmalan Thanabalasingham and National Trainer Nicholas Lee has formulated a strict evaluation criteria.

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