Essendon appoints a Sri Lanka legend and World Cup winner as coach

Premier Cricket club Essendon has secured a Sri Lanka legend and 1996 World Cup winner as head coach for season 2022-23.

Asanka Gurusinha holds the trophy after Sri Lanka beat Australia in the Singer World Series in 1996. Picture: Glenn Barnes

Essendon has turned to a Sri Lanka legend and 1996 World Cup winner as its new coach.

Asanka Gurusinha will take the reins at Windy Hill for Premier Cricket 2022-23, bringing a wealth of international experience as a player and coach.

The 55-year-old recently finished a stint as national coach of Nigeria, currently ranked 41st in the ICC T20 standings.

Gurusinha was also Sri Lanka cricket operations manager after a decorated playing career that included 41 Tests and 147 one-dayers, highlighted by scoring 65 in the World Cup triumph against Australia.

After retiring from international level, Gurusinha played several seasons in Premier Cricket with North Melbourne and Prahran.

- some very exciting news about our new Senior Coach. ⁦@vicpremcricket⁩ ⁦@VicStateCricket⁩ pic.twitter.com/aMJC8lqop9

— Essendon CC (@EssendonCC) May 16, 2022

In 69 First XI matches he scored 2040 runs at 26.49 and took 69 wickets at 25.92.

Essendon president Simon Tobin was looking forward to bringing Gurusinha’s expertise to the club.

“He’s just finished up with Cricket Nigeria and returned to Australia on the weekend but he’s lived in Melbourne for 25-plus years and played for Prahran and North Melbourne.

“When we made it known we were looking for a new coach two different people contacted me about him.

“They both said ‘listen, you should get onto this guy, he’s in Africa and he’s pretty keen to come back to Melbourne’.

“We’re really excited not just because of his experience but he does have a really good knowledge of Premier Cricket.

“We couldn’t be more delighted because he’ll be able to offer so much to our younger players but also to our senior, experienced players.”

Essendon parted ways with Ash Cavigan following an elimination final defeat at the hands of Footscray.

Asanka Gurusinha in action for Sri Lanka against Australia.

The Bombers won six of their last seven matches to charge into finals, jumping to eighth after missing finals the previous two seasons.

Opener Isaac Willett enjoyed a breakout season, ranked 19th overall after the home-and-away season, and finishing with 451 runs at an average of 28.19.

James Seymour scored 427 runs at 38.82 in 11 matches as he juggled Victoria state duties but Michael Hill was only other batsman ranked in top 50.

With the ball, Liam Bowe had a career-season, finishing equal first on the wicket-taker charts with 31 scalps and finishing with 32 at 20.44 to earn Team of the Year honours.

After overcoming an early-season injury and mixing state duties, Cameron McClure claimed 18 wickets at 19.11 in 10 appearances.

Tobin believes Gurusinha has the high-performance knowledge and hands-on experience to get the best out of Essendon’s emerging talent.

“His mix of international experience at the highest level with Sri Lanka but also when you’re head coach of a country like Nigeria, it’s very different.

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“From coaching support to funding, all those sorts of things are different to what you might get at Cricket Sri Lanka or Cricket Australia.

“Although he was national coach it was a very much hands on job and similarly with his experience in Premier Cricket he knows the Melbourne cricket scene and has a good understanding of what’s expected.

“We’ve got a couple of guys with state experience and they’ll be able to talk to a coach who’s got the international experience he’s got as a player and coach, which can only be a good thing.”

Tobin is also hopeful development coach Sunny Fernando will remain at Windy Hill next season after missing out on the top job.