SLC to part ways with Tom Moody
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will part ways with Tom Moody, its high profile Director of Cricket, just one-and-a-half years into his three-year deal, but will retain Mahela Jayawardena, Consultant Coach, despite the former Sri Lanka skipper this week accepting a broader responsibility with Mumbai Indians.
Moody was hired for a three-year stint by a Technical Advisory Committee led by Aravinda de Silva at the start of March last year. He had a wide purview, spanning the women’s and men’s game, and domestic and international cricket. Among his priorities was restructuring Sri Lanka’s domestic cricket, which he did by introducing a five-team provincial tournament on top of the 26-club first class tournament.
However, the Board now feels that, with Jayawardena heavily involved in shaping the future of cricket in the island, it could do without Moody now. Thus, it has reached an amicable exit plan with the former Australian cricketer-turned-coach. He will be paid US$ 45,000 as compensation.
His three-year contract mandates Moody to spend at least 300 days in Sri Lanka focusing on “analysis of the future tour programme, focusing on the domestic tournament structure, player welfare, education and skill development, coaching and support staff structure, high performance, and data analytics”.
He was paid a fee of US$ 2,000 for each day he spent in Sri Lanka, in addition to all other perks including five-star accommodation.
“We will make a final call soon,” replied SLC president Shammi Silva, when the Sunday Times questioned the status of Moody’s contract with SLC, without elaborating on what the call would be.
However, a senior officer confirmed the Board has already mutually agreed with Moody to part ways.
“We will have to compensate him for early termination but even that’s a better option than keeping him for further one-and-a-half years,” sources said, on the condition of anonymity.
