Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas returns after pay spat

Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas returned to his job a month after quitting over a pay dispute that was “amicably resolved,” the cricket board said in a report published by AFP.

Former Test player Vaas, 47, quit on the eve of the national team’s departure to the West Indies last month. He stepped down days after replacing Australian David Saker.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to inform you that pursuant to a meeting that was held between Mr. Chaminda Vaas … the matters which led to his resignation were amicably resolved,” the board said in a statement, cited by AFP.

It came a day after Sri Lanka’s new director of cricket, Tom Moody, a former Australian Test player, vowed to shake up the national team ahead of the next World Cup.

In his first public remarks since being hired last month by Sri Lanka’s cricket board to revive the team, the 55-year-old said on Thursday that he was planning a major cultural shift.

He said his observation so far was that Sri Lankan players were “just holding on” without making an extra effort and were merely trying to “survive.”

“We need to create an environment within the playing group … within the community of Sri Lanka cricket that (will make them) feel like they are thriving in the organization, not surviving,” Moody said.

Moody was Sri Lanka’s head coach for two years until 2007 and was chosen for the new post because of his experience in Sri Lanka and abroad, the board said.

Vaas is the most successful Sri Lankan fast bowler, taking 355 wickets in 111 Tests and 400 scalps in 322 one-day internationals.

He retired from Test cricket in 2009, a year after ending his ODI career.