Colombo: Former Sri Lanka captain Hashan Tillakaratne has been appointed as the country's women's cricket team new head coach, SLC confirmed on Wednesday.
Tillakaratne took up the role officially on June 1 and will be contracted up to December 31, 2021.
His first job will be to prepare the team for the 2022 ODI World Cup and Commonwealth Games qualifiers scheduled for early next year.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) also confirmed that it is looking at arranging "one or two" tours in the next few months.
Notably, the Sri Lanka women's team hasn't played any international cricket since the T20 World Cup last March, due to the pandemic.
“It's an honour and a privilege to work with the girls. They're very talented and skilful. I'm looking forward to the challenge,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Tillakaratne as saying.
Tillakaratne was also the in-charge of the Sri Lanka Under-19 side from 2018 to 2020.
During his career, he played 83 Tests, scoring 4,545 runs at an average of 42.87, while his 200 ODIs brought him 3789 runs at an average of 29.60
Having made his debut in 1986, he retired from international cricket in 2004 and all forms of cricket in 2006, before turning his eye towards coaching. (UNI)