Mahesh Weerasinghe’s appointment as Women’s team interim coach has triggered a controversy in Island’s Cricket fraternity, as majority of people are raising their voice against Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) decision!
Cricket Age understands that Weersinghe has been appointed for Six months and will be kept on probation! Replacing fairly popular Harsha De Silva, Weerasinghe has already resumed duty, starting one month long fitness program with women’s team.
Now, it has emerged that SLC’s incompetent Chief Cricket Operations Officer (CCOO) Jerome Jayaratne had recommended Weerasinghe, considering his so called cricket expertise.
“As the CCOO, Mr. Jerome recommended Weerasinghe for the job, stating that he is the most suitable among all available coaches at High Performance Centre (HPC) at Khetterama” an insider at SLC told Cricket Age.
However, Jerome’s, who himself has been surviving in Sri Lanka cricket for decades only due to political blessings, decision has sparked a debate. It’s been said that Weerasinghe’s job will be reviewed after 6 months. However, the interesting part is that the Sri Lanka Women’s team has no scheduled tour/series during the said period!
“It’s hilarious! How SLC will be able to review, when there is no Women’s team matches in next 6 months” the SLC insider added.
Also, Weerasinghe is considered as a controversial figure in Sri Lanka domestic cricket. He was appointed as the Development team coach of the Women’s team before the last World Cup. Accusations are that he comes from the family of mafia brothers, who work as coaches in Sri Lankan cricket. According to sources, one of his brother Ajith Weerasinghe is presently working at SLC as the district coach for Kalutara District. The other brother Dinesh Weerasinghe, who was sacked from D.S Sennanayake College, is coaching a cricket club in Panadura. All the four brothers are notorious in Sri Lanka domestic cricket circuit as manipulators of Club Cricket.
Particularly Mahesh Weerasinghe, who was brought in just before the ladies World Cup and was sent with the team to Australia, was accused for misbehaving during an official function after having couple of drinks. In addition, he is a skilled dancer as well, as in a video, he can be seeing dancing during Sri Lanka’s World Cup Campaign in Australia! Experts in Sri Lanka cricket says all the four brothers have the expertise in doctoring the pitches, manipulating the wickets, in order to turn the match result, according to their wish!
