Is making Mathews T20I captain a wise choice?

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced the appointment of Angelo Mathews as the stand-in captain for the three T20Is against the West Indies starting 4 March.

Was this decision taken by the two selectors Chaminda Mendis and Pramodya Wickramasinghe?

Naturally, both selectors must have agreed to appoint Mathews. But no, it appears that there was a dispute and disagreement in selection of captain. What we hear is that one of the selectors was against Mathews being made captain solely for the reason that his presence is vital for Sri Lanka in the 3 ODIs and 2 Test matches that follow the T20I series. Even the Head Coach we understand was keen to have Mathews as captain of the T20I side, and that apparently tilted the balance in Mathews’ favour.  

Is this a wise decision? Aren’t we risking Mathews’ availability for the ODIs and Test matches given how injury prone he has been latterly? Under those circumstances isn’t it the worst choice opted by the selector and Head Coach, and is Mathews going to continue in this position till the T20 World Cup in India in October 2021?

We are also hearing that Wickramasinghe has taken wing to the Caribbean to be the tour selector. If that is the case, has he been appointed the interim Chairman of Selection?

The senior of the two selectors, Mendis, has been serving on the selection committee for the last 26 months, as opposed to Wickramasinghe, who has served only for the last two months, however, the SLC Executive Committee has taken a decision to send Wickramasinghe.

The question now arises how Wickramasinghe is going to discharge his duties as tour selector with Angelo Mathews as captain, whom he has accused of ‘match fixing’ in a public forum.

Wickramasinghe made some serious allegations on a private television station questioning the integrity of several top players, alleging that there was foul play during the 4th ODI against Zimbabwe in 2017, which SL lost and eventually the series as well – their first-ever ODI series defeat against a lower-ranked team.

During the show, Wickramasinghe particularly attacked Mathews, who was the captain during the series. Wickramasinghe cast doubts over Mathews’ intentions, while stating that he surprisingly came to bat at number three in the match, against his customary position of number five, where he bats normally in ODI cricket. He also made allegations that in the particular match, Mathews didn’t use the team’s strike bowler Lasith Malinga in a crunch situation. Following Wickramasinghe’s allegations, 40 SL cricketers (10 of whom are in the tour party to West Indies) signed a petition and sent it to SLC to call for an immediate inquiry by summoning Wickramasinghe in fairness to their good names that have been slandered by such ‘diabolic allegations’.

How will the rest of the boys react against a person whom they demanded an ICC investigation, which was concluded without any allegation being proven due to the lack of evidence to substantiate damning allegations?  

Under these circumstances has the ExCo of SLC taken the right decision, having themselves initiated an ICC inquiry against Wickramasinghe at the behest of the national players? Or was the ExCo forced into send Wickramasinghe over the experienced Mendis through pressure from other quarters?

Moody Blues

SLC has also announced the hiring of Tom Moody as Director of Cricket for a period of three years at a colossal amount of $ 200,000 per annum for 100 days of work. It is interesting to know if Moody’s appointment was made in concurrence with the Chief Cricket Operations Officer – High Performance Centre Jerome Jayaratne. The reason this point is being raised is to avoid a situation that arose between Graham Ford and Asanka Gurusingha in 2017. At the end of the day, there was no tangible benefit that came towards SLC.

Isn’t $ 200,000 better invested in completing the indoor facility and the swimming pool which lies abandoned for the last four years? We have enough examples of foreign experts being parachuted in, like with Haroon Lorgat, where millions of rupees were flushed down the drain.

As we have pointed out, the Sports Minister is very young and inexperienced, and we have repeatedly stated that he should be taking wise counsel. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests otherwise, whereas the people whom he has placed his trust in to use rugby parlance, is throwing him dummies and leading him to make unwise decisions.

The Minister is well advised to take a look at his three predecessors; Dayasiri Jayasekera, Faiszer Musthapha and Harin Fernando and what their plight is in the eyes of the cricket-loving public in this country. They too chose to ignore what was the right decision and went with the convenient decision, leaving cricket in the plight which it is placed today. The Minister should take every conceivable precaution to ensure that he does not end up in a similar predicament.

The Minister must be aware that the ICC has stated that corruption is rampant in SLC. A Test cricketer is being summoned before court today (Tuesday) on an attempt to fix matches during the recently concluded Lanka Premier League. The Minister is well advised to heed the danger signs and install a proper cricket selection committee forthwith in order to avoid similar unwarranted situations arising during the West Indies tour.