The Sports Ministry, National Sports Council and National Selection committee are collectively on the opinion of appointing a single selection committee for the men’s and women’s teams, Cricket Age reliably learns.
The Idea has been discussed among the decision making authorities and the final approval will be given by the Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
It’s noteworthy that, at present, Sri Lanka cricket doesn’t have any selection committee – National, women’s or junior even. The contracts of all the selection committees have long been expired. Since then, as there is no domestic or International cricket is taking place in the country, the process of appointing new committees is taking much more time than the expected.
“We were told that there might be a single selection committee for all the national teams, instead of appointing separate committees, which seems a good Idea” an Insider at Sports Ministry told Cricket Age.
For it’s part, the SLC has long time ago forwarded names for the all three committees. In the expired men’s team selection committee, politically backed incompetent and clueless Asantha De Mel was leading the show. In junior committee, meanwhile, former Sri Lanka player Ranjith Madurusinghe and his colleagues (sans Farveez Maharoof) once again made an everlasting impression, by unearthing a plethora of young players across the country. Their efforts, however, were undermined by a biased coach Hashan Tillakratne and one of the junior selector Farveez Maharoof, who ruined Sri Lanka’s U19 World Cup campaign, by manipulating the entire selection process.
Sri Lanka last played a series against West Indies in February and all their international assignments so far have been put off due to the Covid-19 outbreak, which has paralyzed entire world since then. Due to the pandemic, Sri Lanka has already lost out on hosting a couple of high-profile cricket series. In March, England’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka was postponed after the ECB requested for it due to the growing threat of the virus. Last week, India’s tour of Sri Lanka was also called off, an assignment that should have seen India played three ODIs and three T20Is starting June end and continuing till July. Just few weeks ago, Bangladesh’s three-Test tour of Sri Lanka was also postponed indefinitely, following a stalemate between the BCB and SLC over quarantine requirements, with weeks of negotiation failing to yield an agreement between the two boards.
At present, SLC is gearing up for much talked about Lanka Premier League (LPL), which is scheduled to be played sometime in this month. Powerful SLC vice president Ravin Wickramratne is overseeing the LPL, as tournament director.
