<P>Ashantha back in the saddle 
[January 19 2012]

<P>New Chairman of Selectors Ashantha de Mel said that picking the Sri Lanka cricket team for the forthcoming tour of Australia will be the first priority of his committee. In an exclusive interview with the Observer Online a short-while ago, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler said his committee will make short and medium term plans, targeting the 2015 World Cup tournament.

<P>Heading the national cricket selectors' panel is nothing new for De Mel, who had previously held this key position twice. "Our first priority will be to pick the squad for the Australian tour with the best available resources, purely on merit. But our medium-term goal would be to develop a strong team for the next World Cup," said De Mel.

<P>He said the new selection committee will have to sit down and make a careful study of Sri Lanka's downfall in recent series. "We have to study as what has gone wrong in recent times, discuss issues closely with the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and work closely with them to put the game back on the right track," said De Mel who replaced former Sri Lanka captain Duleep Mendis whose committee was fired by the Sports Minister today. 

<P>Following four successive Test series defeats, the latest being the 1-2 loss in South Africa, Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage appointed a new selection committee headed by De Mel, who had represented Sri Lanka national team from 1982 to 1987 with distinction, playing 17 Tests and 57 One Day Internationals to capture a total of 100 international wickets. 

<P>The other members of the new four-member selection committee are former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper batsman Amal Silva, ex-Test spinner Don Anurasiri and Hemantha Wickremaratne. Opener Silva was better known for his majestic century against England at Lord's way back in 1984. 

<P>Anurasiri, the only surviving member of the previous five-member selection committee and currently in South Africa as the tour selector, had captured over 70 wickets in 18 Tests and 45 ODIs. Wickremaratne had represented Sri Lanka in three ODIs.

<P>The new Selection Committee chairman said that selectors will also have to concentrate on prospective players for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held later this year. "There are no short cuts and miracles. All of us will have to put on a lot of hard work to rebuild the team and make a champion team that could bring back our lost glory," De Mel said.

<P>Informed Sri Lanka cricket sources said that there will be major changes in the national side for next month's tour of Australia. These major changes in the Sri Lanka team in leadership and coaching areas would be made once the team returns from South Africa after completing the two remaining matches of their current five-match ODI series, which the visitors have already lost 0-3. 

<P>With South Africa already pocketing the series in style and heading for a whitewash, there is only an academic interest and an opportunity for Sri Lanka for consolation wins in the two remaining ODI matches to be played in Kimberley and Johannesburg tomorrow and on Sunday.