Former England head coach Chris Silverwood is reportedly in 'final stage negotiations' to become Sri Lanka 's new coach.
Silverwood was sacked by England in February following a poor Ashes series which saw his side lose 4-0 to Australia. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have been searching for a new head coach since November when it was announced that Mickey Arthur would be leaving the role to become Derbyshire's head of cricket.
And according to journalist Rex Clementine, who works for Sri Lankan outlet The Island, Silverwood is set to become Arthur's replacement. In a tweet, Clementine wrote: "SLC in final stage negotiations with Chris Silverwood to take over as Head Coach.
"Silverwood has a reputation for producing results with young teams having won Essex their first county championship in 25 years. He was recently sacked as England Head Coach after the Ashes."
Following his sacking, Silverwood said: "It's been an absolute honour to be England Head Coach, and I'm extremely proud to have worked alongside our players and staff. I want to thank them all for the hard work and commitment they have given during my time in the role and I wish them all the very best moving forward.
"The last two years have been very demanding but I have really enjoyed my time with the team and working with Rooty and Morgs, and I am very proud of this group considering the challenges. I leave with fond memories and I am now looking forward to spending some quality time at home with my family and embracing the next chapter."
Sri Lanka had previously been linked with an approach for former Australia head coach Justin Langer, who also left his role after the Ashes. Aravinda de Silva, chairman of Sri Lanka's cricket committee, confirmed their interest in Langer last month.
"We are in the process of looking for a national coach," he told Code Sports. "If [Langer is] available we would like to have a chat to him, to see his interest levels. It [would] be something we’d be happy to look at, for sure. You need to understand the players’ mindset.
"You need to basically have someone who understands and becomes a father figure and also to mitigate the language barrier. That’s been one of the major issues.
"We need to have someone who gets the right message across and understands our culture as well. These are things that we have been focusing on in finding the right candidate."
