Moody hails successful year

Tom Moody © Getty Images

Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody has challenged his side to continue their recent improvements after a successful year on the international scene.

Sri Lanka have impressed in both the long and short versions of the game, reaching the final of the VB Series involving South Africa and Australia before beating England in a Test match and claiming a 5-0 series whitewash in the one-day international series between the two nations.

Moody’s side have also claimed a 2-0 Test series win against South Africa while their current tour of New Zealand has so far produced victories at both Test and one-day level.

“I have seen the side improving in every department over the last 15 months or so,” said Moody.

“It’s the result of a structure being put in. We are a better side now than what we were last year and we want to be an even better team next year.

“I think the icing on the cake was beating England 5-0 in the one-day international series. It was a huge achievement due to a lot of reasons. Most people didn’t give us any chance and to come up with that result in conditions that are unfamiliar to us was sensational.

“We not only won the series 5-0 but we also won each of those games by big margins. All credit to the players for the way they adjusted and performed.”

Since his tenure began in May 2005, Moody has had to wait patiently for the results to come after heavy defeats to India and New Zealand last year.

Sanath Jayasuriya has done well during Tom Moody's time as coach © Getty Images

But the Sri Lankans have turned things around in 2006 and have won six of their 11 Test matches - including four victories away from home - much to the delight of the former Worcestershire batsman.

Moody added: “(It has been) a reasonably successful year I would say. I’ll be disappointed if we say that okay we are happy with what we have achieved and remain there.

“We’ve got to look at constantly raising the barrier and becoming a better team every time we play. This team is capable of achieving a lot more.

“The turning point was nothing but hard work. You are going to be faced with challenges such as that on and off. We believe in what we do and as far as we do the right things the results will look after themselves.

“I would say the Indian tour last year was the toughest. We had to believe what we were doing was right. That was tough. We knew there wasn’t much difference between the two sides, but we simply failed to win.

“What I realised during that period was that there’ll be things that are beyond your control and you need to look at things that you can change and forget the rest.

“We all enjoy winning. But for me, winning is not everything.

“I set out goals ahead of every series. There are long-term goals and mid-term goals. My success is not necessarily gauged by results. I tend to gauge my success from the improvement players make.”

Muttiah Muralitharan continues to excel for SL © Getty Images

Moody also believes the balance of youth and experience is a key component to Sri Lanka’s success.

“To start with I must say that Sri Lanka is blessed with some amazing talents. There’s no death of talent in the country and that itself is a great advantage,” he continued.

“I have been trying to help players to bridge the gap between club cricket and international cricket. Help these players to fit into the big league.

“You’ve got to review things like the technical side of the players and all that. It’s not only helping young players, even working with the senior guys like Sanath Jayasuriya and feed them on what they do right and what they don’t.

“We’ve got something called weekly management reviews where each member of the management staff briefs the player as to how much of an improvement he had made in his game during that particular week.

“I play a part in these reviews and so do the others like Tommy Simsek, C.J. Clarke, Trevor Penny and others. They tell the players how they find they have progressed and the improvements that need to be done.”

The former Australia international, who played in eight Tests and appeared in three World Cups, also revealed a special bond has formed between himself and some of the squad after facing the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene and Jayasuriya during his playing days.

“That wasn’t a barrier. Probably there was respect and a relationship that was already formed through our playing days and it helped me to get settled with the system,” he added.

“They actually made an effort to make me feel comfortable with the Sri Lankan culture.”