Former fast bowler Pramodaya Wickramasinghe is most likely to head Sri Lanka new selection committee, Cricket Age reliably learns.
After Sri Lanka’s embarrassing defeat against England in the recently concluded test series, chief selector Asantha De Mel Wednesday resigned from his post. Following yesterday late night development, Pramodaya is the front runner to replace Asantha.
“Most likely Pramodaya will be appointed new chairman of selectors by tomorrow” a top SLC official told Cricket Age.
As Dinesh Chandimal led side generously gifted second Galle test to visiting England and surrendered the series 2-0, fans are left stunned! Sports Minister has already taken following long term decisions, after a meeting with SLC officials and National Sports Council chairman Mahela Jayawardene to discuss the current status of Cricket in Sri Lanka.
- Appoint a new Cricket selection committee
- Play competitive domestic and provincial cricket tournaments
- Priority will be given for discipline and fitness of players
- Players contracts will be based on performance
- Director and mentor will be appointed to assist the Coach
In a career span of 10 years, he featured in 40 Tests and picked up 85 wickets at an average of 41.87. In the shorter format of the game, he played 134 matches and picked up 109 wickets at an average of 39.64. Despite the ordinary average, it was his economy rate (4.53 in ODIs) that was the stand out feature of his bowling.
Wickramasinghe played his club cricket for the famous Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC). In November 1991, he achieved the feat of picking up 10 wickets in an innings during a three-day match between SSC and Kalutara PCC. It was played in the SSC Ground in Colombo where Wickramasinghe finished with figures of 10 for 41 in the first innings and picked up three more wickets in the second as his side took the game by five wickets.
His first tryst at the international level came when he was put on the plane to Bangladesh after the Youth Asia Cup Championships in 1989. He made his senior debut against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup on 31st December, 1990, amid the hustling and bustling crowd at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He had a decent start and finished with figures of one for 23 from six overs in Sri Lanka’s 71-run win. A year later in 1991, he got the opportunity to travel beyond Asia and play for Sri Lanka ‘B’ in England. In the same year, he made his Test debut against the Pakistan at Sialkot.
