Name Hemantha Devapriya | Role Cricket Player | |
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Batting style Right-handed batsman | ||
Hettiwatte Hemantha Devapriya (born 12 April 1958) is a former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Sri Lanka.
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Early life
He was educated at Nalanda College Colombo and played cricket for the college first XI team from 1976 to 79.
After leaving school, Hemantha played cricket for Colts Cricket Club in Colombo. His first-class appearances were for Sri Lanka Under-25s (1980/81), Sri Lankans (1981 in England), Arosa Sri Lanka (1982/83), Colts Cricket Club (1988/89 to 1995/96) and Southern Province (1992). The rebel tour to South Africa from October–December 1982 scuppered any aspirations of official international recognition.
Playing career
The wicket-keeper batsman made his debut against Australia in 1980 with an explosive 80 in Galle and went on to score several top-notch half centuries against England during the 1981 tour. Devapriya has scored 1,761 first-class runs in a short career of 70 matches.
Coaching career
In 2016, Sri Lanka Cricket announced that him as head coach of the Sri Lanka women’s national cricket team. He replaces another former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper/batsman Lanka de Silvawho held the post since July 2015.
Devapriya holds level III qualifications from the ECB and is a Level II Certified Coach in Sri Lanka.. His coaching career spans over 15 years were he was the Head Coach of the Colombo Cricket Club, the NCC, the Fingara Cricket Academy and most recently Bloomfield C & AC.
Also steering the women's team as they head into the ICC Women's Championship Qualifiers in early November is former national spin coach, Oshadi Weerasinghe, who takes on the role of assistant coach.