Foster dismayed by BCCSL treatment
CricInfo - 17 June 2002
Sri Lanka's bowling coach Darryl Foster said he was left feeling dismayed
and disappointed after his treatment by the Board of Control for Cricket in
Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on Monday.
Foster, a biomechanical expert from the University of Western Australia,
resigned on Saturday after the BCCSL refused a request to help offset
emergency travel costs.
Foster also voiced his disappointment that the news of his resignation was
leaked to the media during the course of a crucial Test match, distracting
the attention of the players.
Foster had to return to Australia just before the Lord's Test following a
life threatening illness to his grandson. The serious nature of the illness
forced Foster to buy an extra airline ticket, circumventing a time consuming
stopover in Colombo.
Contrary to a BCCSL media release, which states that Foster "requested the
BCCSL to meet the cost of upgrading him to Business Class," Foster claims
that: "I was not expecting them to pay for the upgrade. I asked them to
offset the cost of my upgrade against my unused business class, or consider
offsetting it against any future coaching trips to Sri Lanka."
Their decision not to assist him - despite a history of honourary assistance
to the BCCSL, including two biomechanical analyses of Muttiah Muralitharan's
action in 1995 and 1999 that helped save the off-spinners career - forced
him to resign: "They said no, so I could only believe that I was not going
to be required for any further bowling work. Therefore I didn't believe that
I had any other alternative than to sever my links with the board and
resign."
"I was profoundly disappointed. To have it announced in Colombo during the
course of a Test match was distracting – the players and management team
have more important things to worry about than leaks from the board in
Colombo. And making it look that I was resigning because of a financial
disagreement was misleading."
Foster first starting working for the BCCSL in 1995 when he helped clear
Muralitharan's action with the International Cricket Council (ICC). Since
then he has been involved in the BCCSL's Fast Bowling Unit. Most recently,
he helped Dilhara Fernando remodel his action after sustaining a stress
fracture in his back. During this tour he had to take unpaid holiday leave
to heed the BCCSL's request for assistance.
Although currently upset, as are members of the team, he stopped short of
ruling out any further association with Sri Lankan cricket: "I would hope
there could some rapprochement with the board. If I have got the wrong
message from the board, then I will certainly talk to them about future
coaching assistance.".
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