Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday has confirmed the appointment of Roy Dias, the former skipper, as coach of the national Under-19 team.

The executive committee of the SLC also named Avishka Gunawardene, the former left-hand opening batsman, as the coach of the Sri Lanka A team.

Dias, 63, has already been coach of the Sri Lankan national team, apart from coaching the Nepal and Malaysian national sides.

His immediate assignments are the upcoming Under-19 tours of England and South Africa as Sri Lanka turn their focus to youth cricket in a bid to plug the gaping holes stemming from the retirement in recent times of some of their greatest cricketers including Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka’s maiden Test, against England in February 1982, was the first of Dias’s 20 Test matches. He also played 58 One-Day Internationals.

On the other hand , Avishka Gunawardene, having just completed a stint as the assistant coach of the Sri Lanka Under-19 team, will take charge of the A team ahead of the tour of England.

Gunawardene, 38, is a member of the SLC coaching panel and was also head coach of SSC, Sri Lanka’s premier club, for nine successive seasons.

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