Chief Selector of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Asantha de Mel is set to be appointed as the National Team Manager in addition to his present post for the upcoming Cricket World Cup, Cricket Age reliably learns. This wise move is to take place within the next few days in order to motivate and gear up the National team, which is presently in the doldrums.
The Mega event will be held in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14, 2019, featuring ten teams.
According to sources, the recently elected president of SLC Shammi Silva and his administration has taken this bold and wise decision to keep Hathurusingha on the sidelines for the most important international Mega show.
Under Hathurusingha, the Sri Lanka team have won just six out of 17 matches since their January 2018 ODI series triumph in Bangladesh. These include four straight bilateral series defeats. The latest, in South Africa, saw the Board recalling Hathurusingha and handing over his job temporarily to Fielding Coach Steve Rixon for the ongoing T20I series.
It is well documented that Asantha De Mel has publically ridiculed Hathurusingha’s policies and head coach in past. A person with no nonsense approach, Asantha few days ago raised some serious questions over Hathurusingha’s mysterious team selection policies.
“The Head Coach thinks we are against him, but we are not. But if we give in to his type of thinking, we would never have played Oshada. We would have never played Avishka, Kamindu Mendis, Lasith Ambuldeniya or Vishwa Fernando” he had said in an interview.
“Kusal Janith would have never played Test cricket,” he continued.
“When we sent Kusal Janith to Australia, the Coach said he is not in his plans and not to send him. He didn’t even let him bat in the nets. We have to force him to play in the nets. We wanted him to play because we knew he could cut and pull the ball in those seaming and bouncy wickets. Had he not been pressed, do you think he would have played? He got 150 odd runs in a historic match” he had added further.
De Mel had said that Hathurusingha wanted Dilruwan (Perera) instead of Ambuldeniya for the South African series but they decided to send the youngster considering his first class performance (over 100 wickets in 24 matches) and given his ability to turn the ball.
“Are we to play a man who doesn’t spin the ball, injured and 36-years-old and keep this young man in the wilderness?” he asked. “So we took the bull by the horns. Had we lost the match and this guy didn’t take wickets, the blame would have come on us. That’s fine. We are not there to take any glory. Let the players get the credit when they win and when they lose let them put the blame on us. That’s fine. But, as Selectors, we have a responsibility. So what I told my co-Selectors is let’s be fair by every player.”
Cricket Age further learns that as now SLC on Thursday decided to persist with Hathurusingha for the world cup, the high profile Coach is expected to meet Asantha De Mel today to finalize the strategy for the World Cup.
