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Romesh Kaluwitharana is considered one of the orchestrators of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph[/caption]
Former World Cup-winning dashing Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana will be one of the members of the new national cricket selection committee, The Morning Sports learnt yesterday (31 January).
The National Sports Council (NSC) Chairman Mahela Jayawardene’s invitation has reached Kaluwitahrana and the latter has agreed to take up the position, Sports Ministry sources revealed yesterday.
SLC on Thursday (29 January) sent four names to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the consideration of filling two slots of the outgoing three-member selection panel.
The four SLC nominees
The four names that have been nominated by the SLC for the Ministry consideration were reportedly Romesh Kaluwitharana, Hemantha Wickramaratne, KapilaWijegunawardena, and Waruna Waragoda. Out of the above four, only two will be included in the new committee as Pramodya Wickramasinghe of the previous committee is to be retained in the new committee too.
By Saturday (30 January), the National Sports Selection Committee (NSSC) was considering those four names before sending them for ratification of the NSC.
Under NSSC’s consideration
Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, heads the National Sports Selection Committee which was appointed by Youth and Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa in October last year.
Suresh Subramaniam (President, Sri Lanka Olympic Committee), Maxwell de Silva (Secretary General, Sri Lanka Olympic Committee), Arjun Fernando, and Mohamed Hafeez Marso are the other members of the National Sports Selection Committee.
Resignation of de Mel
The national cricket selection committee’s former Head Ashantha de Mel resigned from the post after Sri Lanka lost to England in their second Test in Galle, the fourth Test the Lankans lost successively.
Chaminda Mendis and Pramodya wickramasinghe were the other two members of the de Mel-led committee that looked into the senior men’s national selections since December last year.
The possible three-member committee
Mendis will too be not considered when appointing the new committee while Wickramasinghe will most likely be appointed in de Mel’s position as the new Head of the selection panel.
This means the new national selection committee will comprise Pramodya Wickramasinghe (Chairman), Hemantha Wickramaratne, and Romesh Kaluwitharana.
Advertising the posts!
There was also speculation that some parties were considering the possibility of appointing a whole new set of faces to the new selection panel by advertising the posts. The reason for that has been allegedly the fact that the same set of people are holding the committee’s positions through the last many years on a virtual rotational basis.
Ranjith Madurasinghe and Uvais Karnain are current members of the national selection committee which holds responsibility specifically on the Sri Lanka Under-19 segment while Nilmini Gunarathne and Hemantha Devapriya are looking into the selections of the national women’s segment.
Romesh Kaluwitharana is considered one of the orchestrators of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph[/caption]
Former World Cup-winning dashing Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana will be one of the members of the new national cricket selection committee, The Morning Sports learnt yesterday (31 January).
The National Sports Council (NSC) Chairman Mahela Jayawardene’s invitation has reached Kaluwitahrana and the latter has agreed to take up the position, Sports Ministry sources revealed yesterday.
SLC on Thursday (29 January) sent four names to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the consideration of filling two slots of the outgoing three-member selection panel.
The four SLC nominees
The four names that have been nominated by the SLC for the Ministry consideration were reportedly Romesh Kaluwitharana, Hemantha Wickramaratne, KapilaWijegunawardena, and Waruna Waragoda. Out of the above four, only two will be included in the new committee as Pramodya Wickramasinghe of the previous committee is to be retained in the new committee too.
By Saturday (30 January), the National Sports Selection Committee (NSSC) was considering those four names before sending them for ratification of the NSC.
Under NSSC’s consideration
Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, heads the National Sports Selection Committee which was appointed by Youth and Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa in October last year.
Suresh Subramaniam (President, Sri Lanka Olympic Committee), Maxwell de Silva (Secretary General, Sri Lanka Olympic Committee), Arjun Fernando, and Mohamed Hafeez Marso are the other members of the National Sports Selection Committee.
Resignation of de Mel
The national cricket selection committee’s former Head Ashantha de Mel resigned from the post after Sri Lanka lost to England in their second Test in Galle, the fourth Test the Lankans lost successively.
Chaminda Mendis and Pramodya wickramasinghe were the other two members of the de Mel-led committee that looked into the senior men’s national selections since December last year.
The possible three-member committee
Mendis will too be not considered when appointing the new committee while Wickramasinghe will most likely be appointed in de Mel’s position as the new Head of the selection panel.
This means the new national selection committee will comprise Pramodya Wickramasinghe (Chairman), Hemantha Wickramaratne, and Romesh Kaluwitharana.
Advertising the posts!
There was also speculation that some parties were considering the possibility of appointing a whole new set of faces to the new selection panel by advertising the posts. The reason for that has been allegedly the fact that the same set of people are holding the committee’s positions through the last many years on a virtual rotational basis.
Ranjith Madurasinghe and Uvais Karnain are current members of the national selection committee which holds responsibility specifically on the Sri Lanka Under-19 segment while Nilmini Gunarathne and Hemantha Devapriya are looking into the selections of the national women’s segment.