Former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten has been appointed as the brand new head coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team, with Sri Lanka Cricket confirming that he’ll formally assume the position from April 15, 2026.Kirsten has signed a two-year contract and succeeds former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who stepped down from the place following Sri Lanka’s Tremendous Eight exit on the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup 2026. Throughout the identical match, Kirsten had been working with the Namibia nationwide cricket crew in a consultancy position.

The 56-year-old brings in depth worldwide expertise to the job. As a participant, Kirsten represented South Africa nationwide cricket crew in 101 Assessments and 185 One-Day Internationals. His teaching credentials are equally spectacular, most notably main the India nationwide cricket crew to victory within the 2011 Cricket World Cup and guiding the facet to the highest of the ICC Check rankings throughout his tenure.After his profitable stint with India, Kirsten went on to teach South Africa for 2 years. In April 2024, he was appointed because the white-ball head coach of the Pakistan nationwide cricket crew, though that partnership ended early when he resigned resulting from variations with the board and gamers.Kirsten has additionally been actively concerned in franchise cricket. He labored with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and later with Gujarat Titans within the Indian Premier League, serving as batting coach when the Titans secured the title of their debut season in 2022.A key task throughout his tenure with Sri Lanka would be the upcoming ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup scheduled to happen subsequent yr in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Sri Lanka will intention to safe direct qualification for the worldwide occasion.Kirsten’s appointment follows one other latest teaching announcement by SLC, which named Jamie Siddons as the top coach of the Sri Lanka ladies’s nationwide crew earlier this week.