Former fast bowler Kapila Wijegunawardene has been named as the new Chairman of Selectors following the resignation of Sanath Jayasuriya last week. Wijegunawardene (50) is a former fast bowler, whose international career included two Tests and 26 ODIs from 1988 to 1992. He had been a part of previous selection panels as well.
The rest of the selection panel includes wicketkeepers Brendon Kuruppu and Amal Silva and former batsman Hemantha Wickramaratne.
Both Kuruppu and Silva have served the game in the last 15 years as selectors. Silva was a prominent member of the selection panels during the 2007 and 2011 World Cups.
Wijegunawardene is also a member of the Cricket Interim Committee that was appointed by the Minister of Sports and Tourism last week.
The new selectors have ample time at their disposal as Sri Lanka’s next international assignment will be in June.
“We are keen to do justice to the faith the Minister has shown. I will meet with the rest of the committee and analyze the current situation and we will come up with our plans and look at the way forward,” Wijegunawardene told The Island yesterday.
“The Interim Committee is still studying the ongoing programmes and the decisions taken by the previous administrators. We need to make whatever changes that need to be made and continue with whatever the good things those are in place. There are a lot of areas to be looked at closely, but nothing to be done in urgency,” he added.
The new changes in administration have taken place following the national cricket team’s disastrous World Cup campaign where they were humbled by South Africa in quarter-finals. Sri Lanka finished the campaign having failed to beat any team that was ranked above them and returned home with wins over Afghanistan, Scotland, Bangladesh and England.
The World Cup also marked the end of an era for Sri Lankan cricket with stalwarts Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara quitting ODI cricket. Sri Lanka’s batting looks to be in safe hands with Dinesh Chandimal looking set to rewrite record books. Captain Angelo Mathews has been consistent in all formats of the game while the likes of Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne have come up with several noteworthy knocks. The bowling, however, faces serious problems with not many match winners around. Fielding has been Sri Lanka’s most neglected area and Mathews side alongside Pakistan were the two worst fielding sides in the World Cup.
