As it was widely expected, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has removed ‘whistle–blower‘ Dilshan De Silva from the junior selection committee while retaining Farveez Maharoof, Cricket Age exclusively learns.
The decision was taken during yesterday’s Management Committee (MC) meeting.
Cricket Age has the access of MC document, that reads that former Sri Lanka player Ranjith Madurasinghe will remain as the chairman of the committee.
“As new Sports Minister has not given any directive to change the committee, the board has retained the same selectors for another year” a senior SLC administrator told Cricket Age.
Ranjith Madurasinghe, in particular, deserves another term, as he has been playing a definitive role in unearthing young talent from the Island, with his sheer dedication and determination. Unfortunately, due to the lack of proper strategy from incompetent U19 Support staff, consisting head coach Hashan Tillakaratne and Manager Farveez Maharoof – Sri Lanka U19 team crashed out from the group stage of the ongoing World Cup in South Africa. However, Madurusinghe’s contribution gives a hope for the future, particularly with another extension.
Dilshan De Silva, meanwhile, paid the price for giving proofs of U19 teams’s ‘Whiskey bottles’ scandal during the Bangladesh tour. After Cricket Age exposed the scandal few weeks ago, the SLC had ordered for the inquiry by appointing two anti corruption officials in the inquiry committee. However, when Dilshan approached the committee with evidences of the scandal, SLC stopped the inquiry midway through, in order to safeguard the real culprit.
Farveez Maharoof, in between, has surprisingly but expectedly, managed to save his post of junior selector. A former player with multi tasking abilities, Maharoof’s association as U19 team manager motivated players to focus on taking alcohol and carrying whiskey bottles, instead of concentrating on their games.
Junior Selection Committee:
Ranjith Madurusinghe – Chairman
Ranjan Paranawithana
Gajaba Pitigala
Nisha than
H. Nandasena
Gamini wickramasinghe
Nilantha Rathnayaka
Farveez Maharoof
