By BIPIN DANI

Unlike the other Lanka Premier League (LPL) Teams, which have recruited foreign coaches and support staff, the Jaffna Stallions Team has given more preference to the local talent.

"We have appointed Thilina Kandamby as our Head Coach and Thisara Perera as our Captain," Saranga Wijeyarathne, the team's Communications and Media Director told the Daily Mirror today.

"Thilina Kandambi is good at spotting the young talent. He has proved it with his experience of working at Royal College and at the SSC, where he picked many youngsters."

"Secondly, he captained the Uva Team, which won the only edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) in 2012 and therefore, the LPL format and the set-up is not new to him," Wijeyarathne explained.

"Sri Lankan Coaches, Mahela Jayawardene (Mumbai Indians), Duleep Mendis (Oman) and Chandika Hathurusingha (Bangladesh) have done wonders when working with the foreign teams and we recognise the local talent to lead and give directions to our team after the LPL also," he added.

Meanwhile, Anandan Arnold, Chief Strategy Officer of the Jaffna Stallions Team, said: "We often tend to look for foreign jewels when we have priceless gems right in front of us. Being our inaugural year it is paramount that we select our squad well with local knowledge, harness the talent and nurture them into an effective cohesive unit. We unanimously agreed that we shall go for a home grown diamond in Thilina Kandamby."

Kandamby has played 39 One Day Internationals and five Twenty20 Internationals. The former left-hand batsman also captained the Sri Lanka Team against England in 2011 when the regular captain was injured.

The Jaffna Stallions Team has also recruited Mario Villavarayan and Sachith Pathirana to their support staff.

Meanwhile, all LPL players underwent the compulsory PCR tests at the Nawaloka Hospital today, before leaving to Kandy.

The Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Medical Association have already prepared the safe bio-bubble guidelines for the LPL Tournament.