Davenell Frederick Whatmore (born 16 March 1954,
ColomboColombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
,
Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
) is a former international
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who represented
AustraliaThe Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
. He had a very short international career from March 1979 to January 1980 in which he played just 7
Test matchesTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and 1 One Day International. At
first-classFirst-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
level, he scored over 6,000 runs for
VictoriaThe Victorian cricket team, nicknamed the Bushrangers, is an Australian cricket team based in Melbourne, that represents the state of Victoria. It is administered by Cricket Victoria and draws its players from Melbourne's Premier Cricket competition...
.
Early life
Whatmore was born in Ceylon (now known as
Sri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
) and was educated at
Royal Preparatory College, ColomboRoyal Preparatory School was a preparatory school in Colombo, Ceylon . It was established in 1933 as a preparatory school to prepare students to the Royal College Colombo situated next to it...
. He and his family migrated to Australia in 1962 as a direct consequence of the
Sinhala Only ActThe Sinhala Only Act was a law passed in the Ceylonese parliament in 1956...
. Thereafter he lived in
MentoneMentone may refer to one of the following locations:*Australia**Mentone, Victoria*United States**Mentone, Alabama**Mentone, California**Mentone, Indiana**Mentone, TexasIn addition, Menton, France, is sometimes spelled Mentone....
, a suburb of
MelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and studied at
Mentone Grammar SchoolMentone Grammar School is an independent, Anglican co-educational grammar school in Mentone, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.-History:...
.
Sri LankaThe Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...
Whatmore retired from professional cricket in 1988/89 to pursue a career in coaching. He coached
Sri LankaThe Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...
in two separate spells, during the first of which he won the
1996 Cricket World CupThe 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup after its official sponsors, was the sixth edition of the tournament organized by the International Cricket Council . It was the second World Cup to be hosted by Pakistan and India, and for the first time by Sri Lanka...
. In between those spells, he coached
LancashireLancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
where he won the
National LeagueThe NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect the fact that large numbers of matches were played on days other than Sunday.-Sunday League:The...
in 1998 and 1999, and the NatWest Trophy in 1998.
BangladeshThe Bangladesh national cricket team is a national cricket team representing Bangladesh. The team is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board . Bangladesh is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status...
From 2003 to 2007, he had been coaching
BangladeshThe Bangladesh national cricket team is a national cricket team representing Bangladesh. The team is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board . Bangladesh is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status...
. Under his coaching, Bangladesh enjoyed relative success, coming from a side that could rarely win matches at all, to a team that can occasionally surprise even the most powerful cricket countries. Whatmore coached them to their first Test match victory early in 2005. Bangladesh shocked the cricket world later that year with a victory over then top ranked Australia and then
South AfricaThe South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
when they were top ranked during the
2007 World CupThe 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International format...
, where they also defeated
IndiaThe Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
to reach the
Super 8 stageThe Super Eight stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup was scheduled between 27 March 2007 and 21 April 2007, and determined the four qualifiers for the semi-finals of the tournament...
. Whatmore announced his
resignationA resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position. It can also refer to the act of admitting defeat in a game like chess, indicated by the resigning player declaring "I resign", turning his king on its side, extending his hand, or stopping the chess clock...
from the Bangladeshi team after the conclusion of their matches at the 2007 World Cup. He stayed on until the conclusion of their home series against India on May 29.
Chances in England, India and Pakistan
After announcing his intentions to not renew his contract, Whatmore was strongly linked with the job of national cricket coaches of India, England and Pakistan. But England named
Peter MooresPeter Moores is a former English county cricketer. He played as a wicketkeeper for Worcestershire and Sussex He became the coach of Lancashire County Cricket Club, on 11 February 2009....
as their new coach while India appointed
Ravi ShastriRavishankar Jayadritha Shastri is a former Indian cricketer and captain. He was an all–rounder who batted right-handed and bowled left arm spin. His international career started when he was 18 years old and lasted for 12 years...
as the temporary national coach. Since Shastri declared that he was not interested in the job long-term, Whatmore was considered as a strong contender for the role of coach. During India's 2007 tour of Bangladesh, talks took place between him and BCCI officials, and although it seemed he was the favourite to get the job, on 4 June 2007, BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan, a member of the Search Committee announced that
Graham FordGraham Xavier Ford is a South African first class cricketer turned cricket coach. A right-handed batsman, he played 7 games for Natal B in his career despite playing his last game seven years after his debut in 1982/83. He was a good allrounder sportsman, being a former provincial tennis champion...
and
John EmbureyJohn Ernest Emburey is a former English cricketer, who played for Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Western Province, Berkshire and England....
had been invited for talks, hinting that Dav Whatmore was not under consideration anymore.
Whatmore was one of the three men interviewed by the Pakistan Cricket Board for the coaching job of the national team, but
Geoff LawsonGeoffrey Francis Lawson, OAM is a former Australian cricketer and the former coach of the Pakistan cricket team....
was preferred for the job after former Sri Lankan captain
Arjuna RanatungaArjuna Ranatunga is a retired Sri Lankan cricketer and politician. He was the captain of Sri Lankan cricket team, and led them to an unbeaten title-winning campaign at the 1996 Cricket World Cup...
suggested to the PCB that they not choose Whatmore for the job. Whatmore had had problems with Ranatunga in the past while he was the coach of the Sri Lankan national team and both of them used to speak against each other quite frequently in the media.
IPL-Sports:* Indian Premier League, a cricket league* Indonesian Premier League, a football league* Iran Pro League, a football league* Irish Premier League, a former football league* Israeli Premier League, a football league-Computing :* IBM Public License...
Whatmore has been the coach of the
Kolkata Knight RidersKolkata Knight Riders is the franchise representing Kolkata in the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. Sourav Ganguly led the team in IPL1 and IPL3, Brendon McCullum in IPL2, and Gautam Gambhir in IPL4...
team since 2009.
In 2009, they finished last in the group stage and were eliminated.
In 2010, they finished 5th and were again eliminated in group stage.
In 2011, they entered knockout stage as they were 4th in group stage, but lost to
Mumbai IndiansMumbai Indians , is a franchise cricket team representing Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team is one of the eight founding members of the IPL in 2008. Mumbai Indians are currently led by Sachin Tendulkar, who is the Icon Player for the team and is coached by Robin Singh...
.
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