Sandy Gordon to work with Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan board have decided to enlist the services of Sandy Gordon, the leading sports psychologist, to assist the players with the mental aspect of the game, according to Tom Moody, the new coach. The appointment of Gordon, a Perth-based South African who has worked with players from Australia and India, is Moody's first major decision since taking up his position as national coach.

Gordon will fly to Colombo this week to conduct one-to-one and group sessions with the players during the first two days of a four-day training camp that will start on Friday. He will then continue in a consultancy capacity, holding quarterly workshops with the players and maintaining contact via e-mail and the telephone. Sri Lanka's players have not previously been provided proper sports psychology support.

"I think this is an area that is required now," Moody told Cricinfo. "Players are given support in every other area and they should be given support on their mental skills, one of the most important areas. I understand that they have not had a lot of this stuff before and I would like to get Sandy involved quarterly and the players will have access to him on an ongoing basis via phone and email."

Sri Lanka are also set to make changes to the medical back-up team due to concerns over injury problems during the last year. CJ Clarke, the current physiotherapist, will concentrate on physical training and a new physiotherapist, probably with considerable cricket experience, will be hired. Moody hopes a new physiotherapist will be able to start in time for the training camp.

Moody is also due to meet with the Sri Lanka board this week to discuss candidates for a full-time assistant coach, another new post that will be filled by a local candidate. Rumesh Ratnayake, the best fast bowling coach in the island, is tipped for the job.