The removal of Angelo Mathews from the upcoming England ODI series has taken a new twist On Tuesday, as now country’s Sports Minister Faizer Mustapha has sent a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) CEO Ashley De Silva and has instructed him to immediately removed Graeme Labrooy led selection committee, Cricket Age reliably learns.
According to sources, in the letter, Faizer has also scrutinized the role of the Sri Lanka’s head coach Chandika Hathurasingha and held him responsible for the Asia Cup debacle.
Later in the evening, he echoed the sentiment on national TV as well, when a journalist asked him about the blunders of incompetent selection committee.
“I will not interfere in decisions taken by Cricket selection committee, but I can remove them if they take wrong decisions” he said.
After Faizer’s displeasure, most likely, Graeme Labrooy and his ‘ever clueless’ selectors will be removed before the England series. England to play five ODIs, one off T20 and three tests during their tour of Sri Lanka. First ODI to be played Dambula on October 10.
On Sunday, Mathews was removed as shorter formats captain after horrendous Asia Cup campaign, where team knocked out with heavy defeats against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
However, Dropping of Mathews from the team is a bit surprising, given the fact that as a batsman he averages 59 in ODI cricket in last two years. Moreover, he was in fine batting form during the recently concluded home series against South Africa, where he was the top run scorer from both sides.
According to sources, today morning, Sri Lanka head coach Chandika Hathurasingha had a long discussion with Mathews at High Performance center at Khetteraama. During the meeting, Hathurusingha conveyed him the selectors message.
However, Mathews refused to bow down as he immediately demanded a fitness test from the selectors.
