Mahesh Weerasinghe Sri Lanka U-19 girls’ coach

By M. Shamil Amit

Mahesh Weerasinghe has been appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lanka U-19 girls’ team for the forthcoming five T20 and one ODI series scheduled to get underway on September 20 at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium.

Mahesh’s appointment came on the back of the Sri Lanka U-19 girls’ successful stints under his guidance since 2023 on their tours to Bangladesh and Malaysia plus the bilateral series held in Sri Lanka.

The first success the girls tasted was the Tri-Nation tour in January 2023 held in Bangladesh which also featured the Pakistan girls. They succeeded to come out as champions and they created history as this was the first ever title win by any girls’ team.

Two  months later in March, Mahesh guided the side in another Tri-Nation series that included Australia and England which was played at Galle and Hambantota and the girls succeeded ending up as the runner-up followed by another Tri-Nation runner-up title in Australia contested by host Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

In 2024 at the Asia Cup held in Malaysia they won two matches losing two and was unfortunate in a crucial and deciding match as it was washed out by rain and in December 2024 in a four match T20 series against Bangladesh the two teams shared two wins each. 

In the 2025 U-19 Women’s World Cup again Sri Lanka was unfortunate and missed out a semifinal berth as wet weather hampered a crucial match against Scotland.

Coach Mahesh needs no introduction in the coaching fraternity as he possesses an immense knowledge and experience as a cricket coach which spans nearly three decades. He has produced champion school, mercantile and domestic club teams.

Apart from that he has moulded a number of players of the caliber of Tharanga Paranavithana, Dhammika Prasad, Dilruwan Perera, Mahela Udawatte, Milinda Siriwardena and Gayan Wijekoon to name a few who were top players during their era.