By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE powers that be at the Casey-South Melbourne cricket club are hoping a new coaching group can help take its young charges forward through an exciting new era.
The promising Swans list couldn’t be in better hands, with experienced Victorian Premier player, and former English County representative, Chris Hall taking the reins as head coach over the next two seasons. He will be joined by new batting mentor, and former Sri Lankan Test star Thilan Samaraweera who will kick-start his coaching career with the Cranbourne-based club.
The 37-year-old Samaraweera averaged over 48 with the willow in an illustrious 81-Test career and is set to help Casey’s young batting crop better handle Premier cricket’s top slow bowlers.
Swans president Ross Hibbins said Samaraweera would also be an invaluable asset in teaching the group how to better handle the mental aspect of the game out in the middle.
“We’ve got the players who can win games – we’ve proven that over the past four or five years where we’ll come out and beat the likes of Melbourne and Carlton, and then we’ll lose games against teams lower than us on the ladder,” he said.
“It’s that mental toughness and a maturity thing that we need to improve on.
“Thilan will work with our top-order batsmen and two areas that we need to focus on, based on our reviews last year: facing spin, and being able to block things out when it gets tough during a game.
“We’ve had this habit for a number of years where we’ll lose one, two, three or four (quick wickets).
“Quite often, sitting in the dressing room, you can see the players almost go into a panic sort of situation sometimes and we’re looking to address that.”
When Hibbins first spoke with Samaraweera about coming across, a playing role wasn’t even mentioned. It was clear the former international star wanted to move on to the next stage of his cricket career. He’ll now be able to impart his years of wisdom on to the likes of D.J. Watson, Lachie Spurling and Josh Holden.
Former Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan coach Dav Watmore will also be on hand at stages throughout this season to mentor the Swans’ young players and coaches, while Damien Fleming and Matthew Wade are also being sought for individual sessions.
