11 November 2014 06:20 pm
Penney, who was Sri Lanka’s assistant coach during Tom Moody’s tenure as head coach was earlier considered for the dual role of assistant and fielding coach as part of a major shake-up in the coaching set-up.
“We have signed him up to the World Cup as the fielding coach,” confirmed SLC CEO Ashley de Silva.
Penny would fill the void created by former fielding coach Ruwan Kalpage, who chose to take a job with the Bangladesh national team instead of pursuing reappointment in his position.
However the assistant coach position left vacant by the promotion of Marvan Atapattu to the rank of head coach will remain vacant.
Once the best fielding side in the region, Sri Lanka has shown a steady deterioration in 2014 to the extent that Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews repeatedly voiced his concerns.
This forced SLC to advertise the post as part of a major coaching overhaul.
Penney who was said to have earned a good rapport with the Sri Lankan players during his previous stint in Sri Lanka had been approached considering his familiarity with the Sri Lankan set-up.
Penney had been India's fielding coach from 2011 before he was asked to leave his post following India's Test series defeat in England this year. He was offered a role with India's National Cricket Academy but chose to end his contract instead.
Meanwhile, cricketer-turned-psychologist Jeremy Snape has also been appointed to help the national team in the run-up to the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Accordingly Snape will be with the national team for 17 days from November 25 to December 11, 2014.
“Jeremy will be able to enhance individual performance of the National Team with the World Cup in mind. This move is bound to add value to the system at this crucial stage and derive the maximum output of players to face any challenges in the upcoming tours and the World Cup 2015 in particular,” a SLC media released said. (Champika Fernando)