Foster dismayed by BCCSL treatment

Sri Lanka's bowling coach Darryl Foster said he was left feeling dismayed and disappointed after his treatment by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on Monday.

Foster, a biomechanical expert from the University of Western Australia, resigned on Saturday after the BCCSL refused a request to help offset emergency travel costs.

Foster also voiced his disappointment that the news of his resignation was leaked to the media during the course of a crucial Test match, distracting the attention of the players.

Foster had to return to Australia just before the Lord's Test following a life threatening illness to his grandson. The serious nature of the illness forced Foster to buy an extra airline ticket, circumventing a time consuming stopover in Colombo.

Contrary to a BCCSL media release, which states that Foster "requested the BCCSL to meet the cost of upgrading him to Business Class," Foster claims that: "I was not expecting them to pay for the upgrade. I asked them to offset the cost of my upgrade against my unused business class, or consider offsetting it against any future coaching trips to Sri Lanka."

Their decision not to assist him - despite a history of honourary assistance to the BCCSL, including two biomechanical analyses of Muttiah Muralitharan's action in 1995 and 1999 that helped save the off-spinners career - forced him to resign: "They said no, so I could only believe that I was not going to be required for any further bowling work. Therefore I didn't believe that I had any other alternative than to sever my links with the board and resign."

"I was profoundly disappointed. To have it announced in Colombo during the course of a Test match was distracting - the players and management team have more important things to worry about than leaks from the board in Colombo. And making it look that I was resigning because of a financial disagreement was misleading."

Foster first starting working for the BCCSL in 1995 when he helped clear Muralitharan's action with the International Cricket Council (ICC). Since then he has been involved in the BCCSL's Fast Bowling Unit. Most recently, he helped Dilhara Fernando remodel his action after sustaining a stress fracture in his back. During this tour he had to take unpaid holiday leave to heed the BCCSL's request for assistance.

Although currently upset, as are members of the team, he stopped short of ruling out any further association with Sri Lankan cricket: "I would hope there could some rapprochement with the board. If I have got the wrong message from the board, then I will certainly talk to them about future coaching assistance.".