‘Team work key to Jaffna Kings success’

Jaffna Kings skipper Thisara Perera receiving the LPL champions trophy from chief guest Sagala Ratnayake the chief advisor to the President, Shammi Silva President of SLC and Pakistan legend and Brand Ambassador of LPL Wasim Akram at the presentation ceremony. Also in the picture LPL tournament Director Samantha Dodanwela Derana Media Group Chairman Dilith Jayaweera and Ravin Wickramaratne the Vice President of SLC. (Pix curtecy SLC)

Unity of the team is very important and skipper Thisara Perera handled the team well and that paved the way for the success of Jaffna Kings said head coach Thilina Kandamby.

We were under pressure as two times champions but our team played really well.

Actually we had a big challenge especially we missed a few key players like Wanindu Hasaranga from the last two years .We knew Hasaranga ‘ s vacancy is not easy to fill but young Vijayakanth Viyaskanth came bsck strongly and Young Dunith Wellalage also made good contributions. All the young players as well as experienced players work hard and they all realized their responsibility to play the game as we expected. We always discussed our mistakes and corrected with hard training. This is not a short term plan. We were ready for the last six months as the LPL was postponed from last August to December but we planned very well. Our team management and franchises, especially our sponsors Lika Mobile gave all support to us and more important is that they gave a free hand to us. I can’t get personal credit for this success and my supporting staff Mario Villavarayan the assistant coach cum trainer and fast bowling coach played a big role while spin coach Sachith Pathirana, batting coach Jehan Mubarak, fielding coach Vimukthi Deshapriya, Physiotherapist and manager contributed to get success. I must mention our foreign players Shoaib Malik was the key.

They all did their maximum support to the team A player like Malik is very important to the team and his service as a experience player really boost for the team said Thilina Kandamby Actually winning three times in a row is not easy. We had to keep our performance throughout the tournament and we wanted to play the game with injury free players. As a coach I had good chance to handle the local players with my experience but most important is Mario Villavarayan our assistant coach who is doing dual part trainer and fast bowling coach done a splendid job .He has vast experience as a trainer working more with franchise teams at IPL and BPL and he knew foreign players capacity very well and he gave his fullest support to recognize foreign players to get their service .Mubarak the under 19 head coach always spent lot more time with youngsters and he gave good support as batting coach.

After we lost to Kandy Falcons earlier we came back strongly and we did it in great style said Kandamby the former Ananda and National under 19 skipper who also Captained the National ODI team against England.

After he left Ananda College Kandamby joined SSC and got National cap But after his retirement he became a qualified coach at SSC and then moved to SLC coaching staff. My ultimate goal is to be National head coach. Presently I am the Sri Lanka ‘A’ assistant coach, he said.