Selectors resign as crisis deepens in Sri Lankan cricket
THE FIVEMEMBER PANEL SUBMITTED ITS DECISION IN A LETTER TO SPORTS MINISTER DAYASIRI JAYASEKARA, SAYING ITS TERM WOULD END ON SEPTEMBER 7
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s national cricket committee headed by former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya tendered its resignation on Tuesday, after the team’s ODI series defeat against India after a string of poor shows.
The five-member panel submitted its decision in a letter to sports minister, Dayasiri Jayasekara, saying that its term would end on September 7, a day after the India tour ends with a one-off Twenty20 International.
The committee, which also has Ranjith Madurasinghe, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Asanka Gurusinha (also team manager) and Eric Upashanta, has been under huge pressure after India brushed aside the hosts in the Test and ODI series.
India won the Test series 3-0, their first away series sweep, and then wrapped up the fivematch ODI series with two games to spare. Irate Sri Lankan fans heckled the players after the nine-wicket defeat in the first game in Dambulla and hurled water bottles with India on the verge of winning the third game in Pallekele on Sunday.
UNDER FIRE
Sri Lankan fans have blamed the administration, especially Sri Lanka Cricket, for the plight of the squad.
Sanath Jayasuriya’s panel has been criticised for not picking Test skipper, Dinesh Chandimal in the ODI squad.
He was brought in only after skipper Upul Tharanga was suspended for two games due to the team’s slow over-rate, but suffered a hairline fracture on his right thumb to be ruled out for the rest of the games.
Chamara Kapugedera, the controversial choice as stand-in skipper in place of Tharanga, is also likely to be ruled out of Thursday’s inconsequential fourth ODI due to back injury.
The selection committee had been give a six-month extension until the end of the year, but had increasingly come under pressure after Sri Lanka lost even to Zimbabwe in a home ODI series before India landed, having struggled to keep the Africans at bay in the one-off Test.
Sri Lanka’s interim head coach, Nic Pothas, had slammed “too many cooks” after the ninewicket loss in the first ODI in Dambulla, but had to retract his comments.
SLC also announced that it was postponing a charity game between the World XI and Sri Lanka XI that had been scheduled in Colombo on September 8, two days after the India series.
“The technical committee (TC) of SLC has recommended postponing the T20 game, which would have been played at the tail end of the ongoing India series as the Sri Lanka national team, of which several players were slated to be a part of the Sri Lankan XI have been playing back-to-back cricket since May,” it said in a statement.
Several players have suffered injuries, aggravating the situation as the team faces the danger of missing out a direct entry to the 2019 World Cup.
It must win the last two onedayers against India to make it ahead of the September 30 deadline.