Kusal Janith impresses as selectors look for young blood

Sri Lanka cricket is looking for young blood with the new national selection committee headed by former Sri Lanka quick bowler Kapila Wijegunawardene, making every effort to find suitable replacements for the vacancies in the national team.

The current home series against the touring Pakistan 'A' has provided an ideal opportunity for Wijegunawardene and his team to have a closer look at emerging cricketers who are battling out for places in the national team.

The national selectors are facing a Herculean task of filling the vacancies in the batting line up of the national team, following the retirements of master batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. There is no doubt that it will not be an easy task to find two new batsmen who could straightaway fill that vacuum.

Nevertheless, there seem to be plenty of young talent which could enrich the national team and that they would blossom with experience. If we could carefully groom the potential players, it will not be a distant dream to find another Mahela and Sanga in a few years' time.

The rock-solid batting of Mahela and Sanga has been the key to Sri Lanka's success in recent years. It is the duty of the national selectors to give reasonable exposure to prospective players who are knocking at the big league. In this aspect, the ongoing home series against Pakistan 'A' is a great opportunity to spot young talent.

Opener Kusal Janith Perera has grabbed that opportunity keep his chances alive for the forthcoming Test and ODI series against Pakistan national side starting mid-June. It was heartening to see the former Royal College wicket-keeper bat going great guns in the first two unofficial ODIs against Pakistan 'A'.

His back to back centuries enabled Sri Lanka 'A' to win the three-match unofficial ODI series against Pakistan 'A' which was concluded yesterday. He made an explosive 114 off just 88 balls, inclusive of on six and 18 boundaries, before he was forced to retire hurt in the first unofficial ODI played at Uyanwatte Stadium, Matara last Tuesday.

He shared a 152-run partnership for the third wicket with Ashan Priyaranjan (57 n.o) after Sri Lanka, chasing 204 to win, were reduced to 32 for 2 in the sixth over. But Kusal Janith and Priyaranjan gave a testing time for Pakistan bowlers as the home team romped home comfortably, by eight wickets.

Three days later, Kusal Janith was once again in blistering form to pilot Sri Lanka to an exciting seven-run win on D/L method. Put in to bat, Kusal Janith gave Sri Lanka a superb start, sharing three half century partnerships for the first three wickets - a 57-run opening stand with Shehan Jayasuriya, 77 runs for the second with Danushka Gunathilaka and another 55-run partnership for the third with Ashan Priyaranjan before the opener was finally bowled by Zia-Ul-Haq for a run-a-ball 110 which included two sixers and 15 fours.

Besides Kusan Janith's form with the willow, several Sri Lanka 'A' bowlers performed reasonably well, giving national selectors' food for thought.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) must put the house in order before the Pakistan senior team arrives here on a seven-week tour, which includes three Tests. Despite the recent differences with the world body - the International Cricket Council (ICC) which had threatened to hold monies due to the SLC from the recent World Cup, the SLC must make sure that it is stable to manage the game.

But the unceremonious exit of Sri Lanka fast bowling coach Chaminda Vaas does not sound well for the game. If Sri Lanka does not believe in local coaches and opts for foreigners is a different thing. But at a time Sri Lanka continuously reposes faith on Marvan Atapattu as the head coach, we see no reason as to why we should discard Vass, the highest wicket-taking fast bowler for Sri Lanka in Tests.

The SLC said that Vass will not continue as the fast bowling coach after his contract lapsed at the end of last month. Even the SLC Interim Committee has acknowledged the contribution of Vaas.

Unfortunately, negotiations between the SLC and the coach have not paved way for a fresh contract. The SLC Interim Committee has said it was on a mutual agreement that they decided not to go for an extension of Vaas' contract.

Vaas was appointed Sri Lanka team's fast bowling coach in early 2013 and contributed immensely the national team's T20 World Cup victory and a Test series win in England with Sri Lanka pacemen playing an extraordinary role. It is an open secret that Vaas has left in disgust and we should not merely dump a player turned coach of his calibre due to petty personal differences.

The country's successful fast bowler with 355 Test scalps to his credit, Vaas has transformed youngsters such as Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep to a higher elevation during last couple of years. But at the same time, one may say that veteran quick bowlers Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara have not shown their old class. Perhaps, this could be due to aging and being in action without a break and nothing to do with Vaas's coaching.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has vowed to keep politics away from sport, a commendable statement which would be appreciated all those who love cricket and sport in general. But it is up to Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake and the Interim Committee members of the SLC to make sure that the Prime Minister's wish is become a reality.

At the same time, Minister Dissanayake must expedite the ongoing investigations into corruption allegations against the previous SLC regime. Everybody who loves the game would welcome such an impartial investigation but hardly anybody would tolerate his interim committee running the affairs for too long. At a time President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe are making every effort to restore good governance and democracy, it is the duty of the Sports Minister to restore democracy at the SLC at his earliest.

There is no debate on exposing the raw deals of some previous SLC officials. None would question on that but what matters is to restore democracy as the SLC belongs to its member clubs, associations and affiliated bodies. An Interim Committee is only answerable to the Sports Minister and not to the SLC membership.

Moreover, the ICC or any world sport governing body for that matter does not accommodate politically-appointed interim administration. Perhaps the members in the interim committee may not have any political affiliations whatsoever but the ICC does not welcome appointees of a sports minister.

Hence, it is important that the Sports Ministry expedite the investigation and give maximum punishments for the culprits, if they had robbed hard-earned money of national cricketers and made raw deals. The Sports Minister should not hesitate to impose even life bans for those found guilty. Such corrupt officials should not be allowed to have any kind of involvement in the game, be it administration, agency, coaching or consultancy.

That would be an eye-opener to all so that there would be no room corruption at national sports bodies. While appreciating Minister Dissanayake's efforts to clean the administration of the game, we would once again stress the importance of maintaining stronger bonds with the ICC, by adhering to its directive on holding elections to the SLC.