De Mel retained as SC Chairman

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Former Sri Lanka fast bowler Ashantha de Mel who was re appointed as the Chairman of the national selection committee called on Sri Lanka Cricket to join hands and work together to make the country the best Test playing nation by next year.

The Minister of Sports and Recreation Gamini Lokuge yesterday re appointed Ashantha De Mel as the Chairman of the new Selection Committee along with former Sri Lanka left arm spinner Don Anurasiri.

However two members of the previous selection committee Shabbir Asgarally and Amal Silva were not considered for selection. Instead the Minister named two new members Ranjith Madurasinghe and Mahes Gonatilleke in a four member selection committee.

The Minister of course had earlier appointed a five member committee with veteran television commentator Ranil Abeynayake also included. But his name was later removed from the list due to his involvement with the media. In addition sources revealed that Mahes Goonatilleke has already refused to accept his new appointment.

The former Sri Lanka wicket keeper batsman in fact was surprised with his appointment because he had earlier informed the SLC regarding his unwillingness to accept the post due to personal commitments.

The Ministry of Sports and Recreation will need to find a suitable replacement for the 54 year old Mahes Goonatilleke who played five Test matches before ending his career early following a rebel tour to South Africa in 1982.

Sri Lanka are currently placed third in the International Cricket Council Test rankings with a total of 107 points behind the leaders Australia (141) and England (115). They have a very good chance of reducing the gap from the two top teams with Sri Lanka touring Australia for a two Test series and they will also host England for a three Test series later this year.

The Lankans had a fantastic season with Ashantha de Mel as the head of the selection committee where they drew a Test series one all in England and followed up with a historic five nil clean sweep in the one day international series.

They also drew a five match one day international series in New Zealand and ended up as the runners up to Australia on the Duckworth and Lewis scoring method in the ICC World Cup held in the West Indies in April this year.

In the recently concluded home series against Bangladesh Sri Lanka made another clean sweep in the three Test and one day international series that pushed them up in the ICC one day rankings to the fifth place behind Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

De Mel who played seventeen Test matches and claimed 59 wickets, said that their initial task will be to pick a squad of 20 players in preparation for the tour of Australia and the home series against England.

He said that new players will be given more opportunities to prove their skills while protecting the senior players as well. He also said that he is hoping to have a special discussion with the SLC officials regarding junior cricket in Sri Lanka which has decreased to a great extent during the last few years.

In fact the Sri Lanka under 19 team were eliminated from the recent Tri Nation limited overs tournament following a shock defeat to Bangladesh and two heavy losses against arch rivals India.

With the ICC Under 19 World Cup coming up in January next year in Malaysia, De Mel stressed the importance of paying more attention on school cricket with the intention of forming a strong combination for the future.

Meanwhile Interim Committee Chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa welcomed the new selection committee and was looking forward to taking Sri Lanka Cricket in the right direction. He said that his committee is always willing to negotiate and will provide all the assistance and guidance to the selection committee.