Chris Silverwood steps down as the Head Coach of Sri Lanka

Chris Silverwood has resigned today (June 27) from the position of head coach of Sri Lanka's men's cricket team. Appointed in April 2022, Silvewood will no longer be the head coach and decided to return home to be with his family instead. Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket Board, Ashley de Silva stated that Silverwood had informed his decision to resign before any talks with the board about further extending his contract which was supposed to end after the ongoing World T20 League.

Expressing his gratitude, Silverwood addressed his players, coaches, support staff as well as the SLC management and stated that he would be “taking away many fond memories” from his stint in Sri Lanka. In his tenure, Silverwood was appreciated for giving prime importance to the advancements in the fast bowling department in Sri Lanka. This was proven by the rise of talents like Dilshan Madushanka, Asitha Fernando, Matheesha Pathirana and Nuwan Thushara.

Additionally, Sri Lanka also won the T20 Asia Series in 2022 and played finals in ODI Asia Series 2023 under his guidance. Still, the time of Silverwood as a head coach was disturbing having in mind two disastrous World Series campaigns. Sri Lanka ended up in lowly 9th position in ODIs in last year's World Cup thus failing to qualify for 2025 Champions Trophy They also got knocked out of the T20 World League 2024 losing to South Africa and Bangladesh in the first round. 

The CEO of SLC announced that the board was going to scout for the head coach position and also take a closer look at the Sri Lankan candidates for the job. The next big event in the team's schedule is away to England in a seven week’s time - they begin their Test series on August 21.