The former Sri Lanka middle-order batsman Hashan Tillakaratne has now been recently appointed as the head coach of the Sri Lankan women's cricket team for a period of six months.

Tillakaratne, who was a member of the Sri Lankan side that won their maiden World Cup back in 1996 has also held a lot of coaching positions before his latest appointment.

“The Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce the appointment of Mr. Hashan Tillakaratne as the Head Coach of the National Women's Team. The appointment came into effect from 1st June 2021,” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) posted on its website.

As the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand is scheduled in February-March next year, it is expected that Tillakaratne's contract that expires on 31 December, will be extended as he will be getting a fresh deal from the SLC.

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It also stated that the southpaw’s latest assignment comes as part of the "ongoing coach restructuring program at the High-Performance Centre of the SLC."

As far as his previous coaching stints are concerned, the wicket-keeper batsman has worked as the head coach of the Sri Lanka U-19 side and the batting coach of Sri Lanka emerging team. He was also the head coach of Kandy Tuskers, a franchise of the Lanka Premier League, during its inaugural edition.

The 53-year-old represented Sri Lanka in 83 Test matches, scoring 4545 runs to go with 3789 runs in 200 ODIs.

(With PTI inputs)