Moody intends to honour Sri Lankan contract

Tom Moody has insisted that he will honour his contract as Sri Lanka's coach despite security concerns for foreign nationals in the volatile region. Escalating violence in Sri Lanka, where a three-decade-old separatist ethnic conflict has claimed more then 60,000 lives, forced Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's website to issue warnings of kidnapping for ransom.

"It has not got to the point where it has stopped me from thinking about doing my job," Moody told The Sydney Morning Herald. "When you're out of the country it probably appears a bigger deal and more of an issue than it is to the people who are here. The Sri Lankan people have grown relatively immune to these kind of things. It's not as though the people are daring not to venture outside. There has been a significant increase in the military and police presence, which is comforting. In a way, I'm becoming immune, too."

South Africa's withdrawal from a tri-series last month following a bomb blast in a Colombo marketplace was another indication of the fragility of the situation. Moody, though, felt that no cricketer was safe from danger: "I think there has to be a realisation that in this day and age, no matter whether you're in London, Sydney or Colombo, you have to be mindful of the unpleasant possibility of terrorist action".

Already tipped as a strong candidate to succeed John Buchanan as coach of Australia after the World Cup, Moody looked back at Sri Lanka's recent success. "Things had been very good. We took a lot of confidence out of the England series," he said. "From a team and an individual point of view, the build-up over the last six months has been really pleasing. This is something we have worked hard at. It's certainly not something that happened overnight.

"This has been 14 months in the making. South Africa's withdrawal was frustrating from the viewpoint of momentum. The more wins we could have got under the belt, the better. But with the bad comes the good. It has given us the opportunity to rest our guys, and gives those with a few niggles time to recover."