South African Mickey Arthur was announced as the new head coach of  Sri Lanka on Thursday. In a complete overhaul of the coaching set up, Arthur’s backroom staff will include Grant Flower as batting coach, David Saker as bowling coach, and Shane McDermott as fielding coach.

All coaches including Arthur have signed a two-year contract with Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC).

The 51-year-old is the 11th head coach for Sri Lanka in the past eight years and he replaces Rumesh Ratnayake who was appointed on an interim basis in August 2019.

Arthur’s first assignment will be against his former team as the islanders travel to Pakistan for a two-match Test series later this month. He was the head coach of Pakistan from 2016 until the end of this year’s ODI World Cup in July.

After his first interaction with players on Thursday and was impressed with the level of talent.

“I looked at the talent and that is the key motivating factor,” he said. “The amount of talent they have is great, but it is teaching them how to use that talent and when to use it.”

Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan will include two Tests that will be part of the ICC Test Championship, begins on December 11.