47-year-old former England coach Chris Silverwood is reportedly in talks to become Sri Lanka’s head coach.
Sri Lanka have been looking for a permanent head coach since South African Mickey Arthur agreed to become Derbyshire’s head of cricket last December.
Sri Lanka Cricket was keen on another Englishman in Paul Farbrace returning to a role he held briefly in 2014 but that did not materialise.
Chris Silverwood was sacked as England coach in January following the humiliating 4-0 defeat to Australia down under but appears set for a swift return to the international fold.
The Yorkshireman was identified as the ‘outstanding candidate’ when Ashley Giles chose to upgrade him from England bowling coach, to succeed Australian Trevor Bayliss in 2019 but became a casualty of a post-Ashes review.
The Sri Lanka side Silverwood is set to take over has shown flickers of improvement after a difficult few years.
They downed West Indies and Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup, beat West Indies 2-0 in a Test series which followed, and earned credit for a 3-1 defeat in a five-match T20I series in Australia.
However, five defeats in five games on the tour of India, comprising three T20Is and two Tests, shows there is plenty of work still to be done.
Sri Lanka is next slated to play Bangladesh in a test series.
