The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Friday announced new selection committee, headed by Asantha De Mel. The 7 member panel was ratified by the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Namal Rajapaksa.
- Asantha De Mel – Chairman
- Chaminda Mendis
- Pramodya Wickramasinghe
- A.W.R. Madurasinghe
- T. Nilmini Gunarathne
- Hemantha Devapriya
- H.U. Karnain
Cricket Age, on November 7 itself, had published that, as per the Sports Law and National Selection Committee recommendation, the SLC is going to announce a single national selection committee for all three national teams – Men’s, women’s and Junior. In the beginning of the November itself, Chairman of the National Sports Selection Committee, army commander Lt Gen Shavendra Silva recommended a seven member selection committee for cricket headed by former Sri Lankan fast bowler Asantha de Mel.
New committee’s first task will be to officially select (unofficially they have already picked) Dimuth Karunaratne led side for South Africa tour, as the team is scheduled to play first test against Proteas on December 26.
Sri Lanka last played a series against West Indies in February and all their international assignments 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. Then, India’s tour of Sri Lanka was also called off, an assignment that could 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.
