The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has appointed former Australian cricketer Jamie Siddons as the women’s national team’s new head coach. He had been hired on a one-year tenure, starting March 16, 2026. Siddons’ addition comes after former coach Rumesh Ratnayake who took the role in 2023 ended his tenure at the end of 2025.
Ratnayake had built the women’s team from scratch into the competitive national team that it is today. They still remain to be counted among the established and top-ranked teams and Siddons will aim to fulfil that. Sri Lanka had their best run winning the 2024 Asia Cup title after defeating the Indian team in the finals. Under Ratnayake, the team faced a struggle at the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 ODI World Cup.
Siddons will be taking over the national team
Sri Lanka setup is full of young talents and is currently in momentum having recently won their ODI and T20I series against West Indies. He will begin his first official assignment on the team’s tour of Bangladesh in April. Following that he will be preparing the team for the Women’s T20 World Cup which is scheduled to be held in England in June 2026.
Siddons has previously served as the head coach of the Bangladesh men’s team from 2007 to 2011. He led them to win their first overseas Test series played against the West Indies. Following that he was named the head coach of the Wellington Firebirds, New Zealand, from 2011 to 2015. He also led the South Australia cricket team named the Redbacks from 2015 to 2020.
Besides his current coaching role, Siddons is a former player and a brilliant run-scorer for the Australian domestic cricket team. He was named the captain of both South Australia and Victoria. He finished his career with a whopping 10,000 Sheffield Shield runs.
