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by DINESH WEERAWANSA

Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, Johnston Fernando yesterday ordered the BCCSL Interim Committee to recommend names of three persons, who could replace former Test cricketers Kapila Wijegunawardena, Amal Silva and Brendon Kuruppu - the three selectors who resigned over the weekend after to a selection row.

Chairman of selectors Tikiri Banda Kehelgamuwa and K.M.Nelson, who did not resign, will continue to hold office while the three new faces will be added. A crucial BCCSL Interim Committee meeting, which was to decide the three names to be recommended to the Sports Minister, was in progress last night at the time of ours going to press.

Wijegunawardena, Silva and Kuruppu tended their resignations after Minister Fernando overruled a decision of the national selectors, who decided to drop opening batsman Marvan Atapattu and promising fast medium bowler Chritha Buddhika Fernando from the Sri Lanka team for the second Test against Zimbabwe, which concluded at the Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy yesterday. Though the trio submitted a long joint letter of resignation on Friday evening, Minister Fernando received the latter only last morning and decided to accepted their resignations. Minister Fernando then requested the Interim Committee of the BCCSL to nominate three names to fill the vacancies created in the national cricket selection committee.

Of two Lankan Test cricketers who were originally dropped by the selection committee but was later brought back to the side after a request by the team management to the Sports Minister, paceman Fernando impressed with a four-wicket haul in the Zimbabwe second innings, while Atapattu continued his lean run with the willow.

Minister Fernando overruled the selection committee decision to drop vice captain Atapattu and Fernando for a simple reason - the selectors' failure to communicate with the team management before arriving at such a crucial decision in between a Test series, which Sri Lanka has not won at that point of time. The team management was of the view that experiments should be made after Sri Lanka wins the Test series and that dropping of two players will have a bad mental impact on the team. But determined Sanath Jayasuriya and his men, boosted by the reinstating of Atapattu and Fernando, beat all odds to crush Zimbabwe by an innings and 94 runs in Kandy and take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-Test series.

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