De Mel ouster a big blunder

Elmo Rodrigopulle

Cricket: It came like a bolt from the blue, the omission of Asantha De Mel, from the new set of selectors submitted by the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket to the Sports Minister.

What wrong has de Mel done to suffer such humiliation, ask cricketing circles in the country.

Critics argue and are convinced that de Mel as chairman of the selection committee did a wonderful job in resurrecting the game that had nose dived in recent times.

Together with his co-selectors - Don Arunasiri, Amal Silva and Shabir Asgerally, de Mel made some moves that made him lose popularity. But to him, it was the game and its progress and development that mattered.

De Mel and his team played a straight bat and picked players purely on merit and those who deserved to sport the Sri Lanka cap. He never bowed to pressure and did the sacred duty as a selector to the entire satisfaction of everyone.

But what has happened to him this time round is inexplicable. Not only de Mel, but Amal Silva has also been dropped, while Arunasiri and Asgerally retain their slots. The new names submitted are - Jayantha Seneviratne and Mahes Gunatilleke.

Arunasiri has been slotted in as the new chairman. Although de Mel and Silva have been dropped, the final say is with the Minister of Sports Gamini Lokuge.

The selectors are answerable to the Minister.

When the Minister scrutinises the new names, he too would be amazed to find the names of de Mel and Silva missing.

The dropping of de Mel brings to mind the fate suffered by former cricket big boss Ana Punchihewa. Punichewa held the top spot when Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996. But not a week passed before Punchiewa could savour that success when he was unceremoniously and to use cricket terms stumped.

And how the game slid to rock bottom from the moment Punchihewa was removed is history now.

De Mel and his co-selectors took Sri Lanka cricket into the World Cup 2007 finals in the Caribbean and instead of being given another unanimous term to serve and further improve the game, they have been bowled out.

Not done, say cricketers, cricket fans and all others interested in the game. We hope that saner counsel would prevail and that de Mel and Silva will join Arunasiri and Asgerally and continue their journey to take the game to the promised land.