When Wynyard began its search for a new senior coach, little did it know that the first contact it would have with him would be as he carted its attack all around the park in the Greater Northern Cup.
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The Tigers will begin next season with former Sri Lankan first-class player Dilan Sandagirigoda at the helm, replacing co-coaches Gregg Sharman and Matthew Bowen.
The 35-year all-rounder played in Launceston's double last season and caught Wynyard's attention with a blistering 55 off 34 balls in a one-day match at the Showgrounds in December.
From there Sharman sounded Sandagirigoda out about a possible move to the North-West Coast and everything fell into place.
"At Launceston last season, where we won a premiership, and at Longford the season before that I was an assistant coach," Sandagirigoda said.
"I wanted to dip my toes in the senior coaching waters and share my cricket experiences and thought this would be a good opportunity to do that, along with helping the community as well."
All up, Sandagirigoda played 19 games at first-class level in his home country between 2008-2013 before a shoulder injury curtailed any dreams he had of higher honours.
He decided to travel abroad to play his trade, starting in Sydney and Melbourne before moving to Tasmania in 2017.
"When I came to Tasmania I thought this is the best place to live with my family, and after three seasons at Longford in the TCL, I wanted to play on turf again, so I moved to Launceston," he said.
Sandagirigoda's first order of business at the Tigers is to continue on the good work done by Sharman and Bowen in the first season of the joint venture with Myalla, which saw the team make finals after several lean campaigns.
"There was been plenty of improvement last season so our main aim is to win a premiership," he said.
"Across all the teams I want to improve the skill level of the players to help build a strong team and reach the top.
"We are on the lookout for a recruit or two to go with the good players we have already got, but every other club is in the same boat."
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Tigers president Clayton Hawkins said he was excited by the new appointment, but also praised the work done by Sandagirigoda's predecessors.
"As we are building a new club after bringing two clubs together, to have someone of Dilan's experience who can work across the teams is an amazing asset for us and really exciting," he said.
Sandagirigoda has been appointed for two seasons.
DILLY FILES
- 2017-18 (Longford, TCL): 580 runs at 27.62, 43 wickets at 8.98
- 2018-19 (Longford, TCL): 575 runs at 27.38, 39 wickets at 11.79
- 2019-20 (Longford, TCL): 462 runs at 24.32, 39 wickets at 11.41
- 2020-21 (Launceston, Cricket North): 534 runs at 23.22, 13 wickets at 18.85
Brad Cole
Brad is part of The Advocate Newspaper's sports team on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.
Brad is part of The Advocate Newspaper's sports team on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.
