Nic Pothas appointed as interim coach of Sri Lanka after Graham Ford makes abrupt exit

Team Sri Lanka received a setback recently when their head coach Graham Ford left the team midway. Ford headed back to South Africa earlier than expected. He was supposed to be with the team as the part of his four year contract with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). His departure has seen Nic Pothas being named as the interim coach of the team. Pothas was the fielding coach of the Sri Lankan team.

With the sudden departure of Graham Ford, the management decided to hand over the coaching role of the head coach to the Ford’s fellow South African colleague Nic Pothas. Sri Lanka is scheduled to host Zimbabwe in the near future for a tour comprising of five ODIs and a Test match. This will be the first bilateral series for Zimbabwe in Sri Lanka since the year 2001-02.

Talking about the abrupt exit of Ford, the South African was supposed to be with the national side till the conclusion of the ICC World Cup 2019 as a part of his contract. However, he was having some issues with the working of the team. He had written a letter to SLC Supervisor Asanka Gurusinha talking about the same. Unhappy with the way the Supervisor responded to his remarks, Ford headed back to South Africa without any official notice.

SLC, as per the reports in sundaytimes.lk, revealed that Graham Ford has not yet given any official resignation. They tried to contact him but in vain. Apparently, Ford is not receiving any phone calls and has not responded to the mails sent to him by the board.

Recent form

Team Sri Lanka has not been having a great time on the field in the recent times. They were knocked out of the Champions Trophy 2017 before the semis. Their rare moment of brilliance was in the match against India in the group stages.