Richard Walsh To Arrive In June To Condition Sri Lanka (25 May 1996)

Saturday 25, May 1996

Walsh here next month to `condition` World champions

By Sa`adi Thawfeeq

Having identified that strength and conditioning as their areas of priority, Sri Lanka`s World Cup winning cricketers will be put to the test further with the arrival of Richard Walsh in early June.

Walsh is the head of the Department of Human Movement in the University of Victoria and is very highly qualified in strengthening, conditioning and fitness areas with substantial expertise in nutrition.

"He is very good in fitness testing and re-evaluating results and getting sportsmen better. He has worked with many Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes. The timing is perfect for him to come and spend 2 1/2 to 3 months with the cricketers in this country,`` said Sri Lanka cricket coach Davenall Whatmore on whose initiation Walsh is coming to Sri Lanka.

"Richard will give his expertise to the players and I am sure he will fit in beautifully. He will have an impact on the preparations phase of our team leading upto a fairly important 1996 competition,`` said Whatmore.

The Sri Lanka cricketers have already reaped the benefits of having an experienced physiotherapist in Alex Kountouri, who is expected to join the team in June. The team had the expertise of strength training from Richard Done, assistant to Australian Cricket Academy head coach Rod Marsh last October.

"We are getting to a stage where the team is being exposed to experts in different areas, similar to what other leading sports nations like South Africa, England and Australia are doing. It is important to have as many players as possible educated in the knowledge of the value of strength and conditioning, for them to be stronger for a long period of time,`` said Whatmore.

"The benefits of strengthening and conditioning is going to be great, but it won`t yield results in a week or two, but over a length of time. During the World Cup our players were free from injuries basically due to managing players in the right way and preventing injuries. Alex played a major role in that,`` he said.

Whatmore commences the second leg of his two-year contract with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board with one purpose in mind.

"Sri Lanka are getting better and that`s basically what I am here to do. To try in some way to put some sort of plans and systems into operation into making this team, who are the World Cup champions, a little bit better. Otherwise, other teams are going to catch up on us,`` he said.

The biggest disappointment for Whatmore following the euphoria of winning the World Cup was to lose to Pakistan in the Singer Cup final in Singapore.

"We are the World Cup champions and if we put in performances like the one we did in Singapore, it is very disappointing. There is no problem of losing as long as you do the best you can on the day, which means the opposition has to play a lot better than you to win the game,`` said Whatmore.

"In a way, I can understand a let down. Later on, the team realised what they did wasn`t right. It`s not the losing, I don`t mind that. But it`s the way in which you approach it. The true test of a team is to come back. Realise what they have done and turn it around, which we did in the West Indies,`` he said.

"We have a very positive image certainly in Australia and in Sri Lanka and, I reckon in England and the West Indies. In Trinidad, they spoke in very glowing terms of our cricket and they had bit of it when we played two one-dayers and won both. It`s a good time for Sri Lankan cricket to utilise all this support and get better,`` Whatmore said.

Source :: Daily News (http.//www.lanka.net)