Sri Lanka head coach tells players to 'develop more skills' to compete with India, Australia

Jamie Siddons, the new head coach of the Sri Lanka women's cricket team, on Tuesday said players need to work on their skills to compete with teams like India, Australia and England.

Sri Lanka will face England, New Zealand, and the West Indies in the Women’s T20 World Cup later this year, and Siddons said he wants to see improvement in the team.

"I just think we need to develop more skills, hit the ball hard, score more boundaries without being reckless," he told reporters, as cited by news agency PTI.

This is Siddons’ first role with a women’s team. He has earlier coached men’s teams, including Bangladesh, from 2007 to 2011.

He played one ODI for Australia in 1988 against Pakistan.

Siddons said his first task will be the team’s tour of Bangladesh starting April 20.

“That is where we will look to set our style of play”, he said, referring to the three-match T20 and ODI series.

He said Sri Lanka had not done well in the last two women’s World Cups, winning only one match.

“That is where we need to see how we can perform better,” Siddons said.

He added that India, Australia, New Zealand and England are the top teams at present, and Sri Lanka will look to do well against England in their first match of the World Cup in June.

“We are focusing on the first game against England, on their home ground and home soil,” Siddons said.

Siddons has replaced Ramesh Ratnayake, who guided Sri Lanka to the 2024 Asia Cup title with a win over India.