New national cricket selection committee to be appointed

The recently appointed Sports Minister Harin Fernando in Parliament yesterday announced that a new selection committee will be appointed for Sri Lanka Cricket soon. 

The Minister said the new committee will be chaired by former Sri Lanka Captain Upul Tharanga. However, Fernando did not provide details about the appointment of the remaining committee members or specify the exact timing for the appointment of the new selection committee.

The current selection committee headed by veteran cricketer Pramodya Wickramasinghe was appointed in April 2021 by then Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa. 

However, the committee has faced substantial criticism in recent years for selecting players who have consistently underperformed, with some even associating the selections with a specific new Christian movement and prominent pastor.

After Sri Lanka’s disappointing performance in the recently concluded Cricket World Cup, Wickramasinghe rejected the criticisms directed at the national cricket selection committee over the past two and a half years, claiming they were untrue and destructive.

He maintained that the current challenges confronted by Sri Lankan cricket stemmed from multifaceted conspiratorial plans that had been in operation at various levels over the past two and a half years, driven by personal ambitions.

Other current committee members include Romesh Kaluwitharana, Hemantha Wickramaratne, Varuna Waragoda, S.H.U. Karnain and B.A. Thilaka Nilmini Gunarathne.