Chris Silverwood and Mahela Jayawardene Resign from Sri Lanka Cricket Coaching Roles

Chris Silverwood has stepped down from his position as head coach of Sri Lanka’s national cricket teams, citing personal reasons. The announcement came after Sri Lanka’s disappointing performance in the T20 World Cup, where they failed to reach the Super Eights. They lost to South Africa and Bangladesh in the Group Stage, won against the Netherlands, and had a game against Nepal washed out due to rain, finishing third in Group D with just three points.

Silverwood explained, “Being an international coach means long periods away from loved ones. After lengthy conversations with my family and with a heavy heart, I feel it is now time for me to return home and spend some quality time together.”

On the same day, former batter and skipper Mahela Jayawardene also resigned from his role as consultant coach of the national teams. Jayawardene’s resignation followed a disappointing ICC T20 World Cup campaign in the West Indies and USA. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) issued a statement thanking Jayawardene for his contributions, noting that he helped implement significant changes to the national team structure and the High-Performance Centre.

Jayawardene, who was appointed in 2022, had mixed results during his tenure. He led Sri Lanka to an Asia Cup title in 2022 but faced challenges in the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup and the 2023 50-over World Cup. Despite qualifying for the Super 12s in the 2022 T20 Cup, Sri Lanka finished fourth in their group. In the 2023 50-over World Cup, they finished ninth with two wins and seven losses, failing to qualify for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

During his playing career, Jayawardene played 652 international games for Sri Lanka, scoring 25,957 runs with 54 centuries and 136 fifties. He is regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time and was a key player in Sri Lanka’s successful 2000s-2010s batting lineup.