Hot Hot Cricket News from Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts
Source:Thuppahis
Victor Melder’s COMPILATION, end of February 2023
The Department of Sports Development (DSD) has decided to call for nominations through a newspaper advertisement for the 2023 Sri Lanka Cricket Selection Committee. This followed a high-level discussion led by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe with the participation of officials of the National Sports Council and the National Sports Selection Committee (NSSC) on Monday. The newspaper notice inviting nominations to the Cricket Selection Committee will be published in the next few days, Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of DSD told the ‘Daily Mirror’.
Since there are issues with regard to cricket selections, NSSC Chairman General Shavendra Silva and NSSC member Sanath Jayasuriya said that henceforth there should be transparency in the appointment of the Cricket Selection Committee. Under the previous system, the executive committee nominated 10 names to the Sports Minister out of which five or seven members were appointed to the selection committee. In future, anyone who has played cricket can apply to be a member of the Cricket Selection Committee. Under the existing system, since members to selection committee were appointed on the basis of being friends with executive committee members, it has been brought to the notice of the Sports Ministry that there was no transparency when it came to national team selections. Although the DSD has called for nominations, the interviews will be conducted by a special committee chaired by the Chairman of the NSSC, DSD Director General Amal Edirisuriya added. Starting with cricket, the Ministry of Sports hopes to implement this system for other sports as well. (Daily Mirror. 1.2.2023).
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Sri Lanka Cricket says it made a gigantic profit of Rs.6.3 billion in 2022, the highest earning in its entire history. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the amount was a three-fold increase compared to what it made in 2021 which stood at Rs.2.1 billion. According to SLC the income was generated mainly from international cricket, domestic cricket, sponsorship contracts and the annual International Cricket Council (ICC) annual member disbursements. It said stadium management and administration grants for district and provincial associations and member clubs totalled Rs. 599 million during 2022. SLC also claimed they had doled out Rs.900 million for the country’s health sector and over Rs. 278 million to the National Sports Fund while a further Rs. 25 million was paid to renovate the Gangarama Rajamaha Vihara in Kandy. (Sunday Observer, 26.2.2023)
The Sri Lankan cricket team left Katunayake airport for New Zealand this morning to play two test matches, three One-day Internationals and three T-20 matches during this tour. A 29-member tour party comprising 17 players and 12 officials flew out from the BIA to New Zealand. The team will play two test matches, three ODIs and three T20s in this tour. (Daily Mirror, 27.2.2023)
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IMMEDIATE QUESTION from Ignoramus Thuppahi:
“Why are there 12 officials? and who are they?”
OTHER POSTS
Rex Clementine, in The Island, 28 Feb 2023:“Sri Lanka leave for New Zealand without Nissanka”
A 17-member Sri Lankan Test squad left for New Zealand Sunday night for a six-week long multi format tour that includes two Tests, three ODIs and three T20 Internationals. There’s a lot at stake during the tour and much has been done to help the team get acclimatized to the conditions but the cold, wind and the moving ball will be quite a challenge to the Sri Lankans.
The tourists will arrive in south island of New Zealand and will be based there for ten days before the opening Test match at the Harley Oval in Christchurch. They’ll play a two day warm-up game against New Zealand XI at the same ground starting Saturday.
New Zealand is a county of two islands. The north island comprises some of its major cities such as Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton. The main city in south island is Christchurch and there are other prominent but smaller cities like Queenstown and Dunedin.
The announcement of the Test squad came via a SLC press release and there was no formal media briefing to explain the selections. Although the current selection panel has been highly praised by some they have worked with little transparency and avoided the press like the plague during their two-year tenure and have got away with too many blunders.
There was no explanation as to why opening batsman Pathum Nissanka was left out but it is learnt that the medical staff haven’t given him a clean bill of health after picking up a back injury in India last month.
Nissanka is easily the finest young talent to emerge in the last five years and has made such a huge impact in all three formats of the game. He may have pulled through for the second Test and anyway since he’s going to be part of the white ball setup, you wonder whether he’d better off in New Zealand acclimatizing to conditions than in Colombo.
Nissanka perhaps faulted by not playing the NSL four day tournament. But have you come across a cricketer with such an unblemished record since Kumar Sangakkara?
Surely, a selection panel that was willing to give the long rope to Danuska Gunathilaka allowing him more time to recover from an injury should have been more considerate about Nissanka.
Sadly, poor Nissanka doesn’t have any godfathers in cricket.
Top order batsman Nishan Madushka has got a maiden call up for the senior team after some big scores in recent times. A product of Moratu Vidyalaya, Madushka slammed a double hundred against England Lions in the first unofficial Test earlier this month in Galle and followed it up with another hundred in the second game.
A 23-year-old wicketkeeper batsman, Madushka averages over 60 in domestic cricket and has been hailed as one of the finest young batsmen in the country.
Uncapped fast bowler Milan Ratnayake is also part of the Test squad.
This is Sri Lanka’s first Test series in eight months. The tour itself is highly important for Sri Lanka. A 2-0 series win will put them on the brink of the finals of the World Test Championship while a 3-0 clean sweep in the ODIs will see them qualifying automatically for this year’s 50 over World Cup.
THE SRI LANKAN SQUAD
