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Sri Lanka cricket hastens to stem the rot

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara. (AFP/Marty Melville)
Roar Pro
8th March, 2016
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Sri Lanka’s Sports Ministry headed by Dayasiri Jayasekara has made an unprecedented but timely intervention to stem the rot with the island nation’s unproductive Cricket Selection Committee by sacking the existing group and appointing a new panel headed by former cricketing legend Aravinda De Silva.

What was more surprising is the inclusion of recently retired batting superstar Kumar Sangakkara one of the game’s most prolific run scorers and an astute leader of his country over a long period of time. Sangakkara has only been out of the national team for around seven months.

Also in the new Committee are hard hitting batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana who, with Sanath Jayasuriya, revolutionised one-day cricket. The others that make up the team are Lalith Kaluperuma and Ranjith Madurusinghe two former Test spinners.

It is a bold move, but one that is necessary after the island nation’s recent dismal performances on their tour of New Zealand, India and the Asia Cup in Bangladesh where they were whitewashed in all formats, the feeling is that there will be a re-shuffle of the T20 squad that has been selected for the World Cup in India just days before the tournament begins.

“The appointment of the national selection committee was carried out by the sports minister, citing recent failures encountered by the national team in their tours to New Zealand, India, Asia Cup in Bangladesh and the inconsistency of selection criteria,” an SLC release said.

The move also follows a brief period of friction between SLC and the previous selection committee, which was headed by Kapila Wijegunawardene. The selectors had felt marginalised by the board, and were also concerned they did not have sufficient say over the XIs that were picked in recent series.

De Silva, though, has led selection committees in previous years, and had chosen the Sri Lanka squad ahead of and during the 2011 World Cup, when Sangakkara was captain. Kaluwitharana has been one of Sri Lanka’s top coaches over the past decade – most recently in charge of the Sri Lanka A side.

Sangakkara’s appointment will be a definite bonus to the Lankans who are struggling for cohesion and consistency under new captain Angelo Matthews as his involvement in the game is still current with clubs and franchises in the different formats of the game worldwide. Ideally, Mahela Jayawardena would have been an added complement to the country’s fortunes but he has been poached by England to guide their fortunes at the upcoming World Cup in India.

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Sri Lanka who were the Asia Cup and are currently T20 World Cup holders, have slipped into an abyss since some of their former stars such as Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, and a few others moved on. They ended last in the recently concluded Asia Cup behind host nation Bangladesh in their worst ever performance since its inception.

The need now is to restructure and provide impetus to the emerging talent to keep up with world standards if they are to maintain the respected and feared team they were not so long ago.

The new ‘A’ team appointed by the Sports Minister have their hands full to deliver that high expectation.

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