ARAVINDA DE SILVA-NEW CHAIRMAN OF SELECTION COMMITTEE OF CRICKET
Posted on May 27th, 2010

By DR M D P DISSANAYAKE

The appointment of Aravinda De Silva (AS) as the Chairman of the selection committee of Sri Lankan Cricket Board is a bold step in the right direction by the new Minister of Sports.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  There has been a vacuum of quality members in the selection panel for a quite a long time.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

There is an international acceptance that AS was one of finest, technically correct batsmen Sri Lanka has ever produced.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Within the team AS was a cool, calm, collected customer, an ideal match for match winners ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ such as Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya. AS was quite prepared to play the second fiddle to AR, without seeking ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ leadership roles, but delivering goods whenever demanded.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  His team spirit was never in doubt, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ he treated all players equally and never had a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-big headƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ASƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  must re-group the team and take full command at the highest level.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  He has been given an ideal opportunity to put his professional skills to the test.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  His appointment, unfortunately, hasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  come somewhat late, there is no doubt that the entire team will welcome the legend with their warm hands.

Last time Sri Lanka won the world cup cricket, it was held in Asia.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Due to LTTE terrorists activities, West

Indies and Australia did not participate in the scheduled matches that were held in Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Now Pakistan is ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ faced with terrorists threats, hence greater number of matches are allocated for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Pakistan will be travelling to other sub-continent countries with a great motivation to win. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pakistan will be a force to be reckoned with in the next world cup, as they display great fighting skillsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  at the every opportunity currently available to the team ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ outside Pakistan.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Aravinda has been ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ given a free hand to deliver theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  goods.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Sri Lankan cricket team at the moment is at its lowest levels, hence AS has an enormous task to re-build and motivate the team.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If he can turn the corner and win the world cup for Sri Lanka, Aravinda will be the pride of our nation.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We wish AS a great success.

2 Responses to “ARAVINDA DE SILVA-NEW CHAIRMAN OF SELECTION COMMITTEE OF CRICKET”

  1. Nanda Says:

    First thing he should do is to try and pursuade is greedy SJ to retire. You must have mentioned that too! Without oldies retiring how can you expect a SL to win ? Pakinstan is a force now because no more legends are playing except the captain.

  2. cassandra Says:

    The appointment of Aravinda de Silva (Aravinda) as the chairman of the Sri Lankan cricket selection committee has clearly and rightly been widely welcome. And, no doubt, we hope that, with this appointment, he will be able to help bring about a change of fortune in the SL team’s performances. We will also want to wish him and his co-selectors good luck in their new roles. Indeed, we must wish them good luck because of the many challenges the job brings. Not the least of these apparently is unwanted and unhelpful political interference.

    I certainly hope you have good grounds for saying “Aravinda has been given a free hand to deliver the goods” because it seems, from all accounts, a free hand is NOT one of the things the selectors have always enjoyed, and that explains in part some of the more bizarre recent team selections.

    Aravinda’s’ cricketing CV is impressive and he has the right credentials for the job. We should, however, be realistic that he and his co selectors can only do so much. For a start, unlike the Australian selectors who are faced with an embarrassment of riches, the SL selectors have to pick their teams from more modest resources. And, importantly, they cannot be expected to do a good job if they are subject to heavy outside pressure. And, they need time.

    I am unclear about what you mean when you say Aravinda was “an ideal match for match winners such as Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya” but speaking of match winners, let’s hark back to the 1996 World Cup, when Aravinda pulled the team out of a hole in the Semi Final and helped set up a total the Indians could not match. For the record, the team was reeling at 2 wickets for 1 run when Aravinda came to the wicket, to play a remarkable hand. Such was his dominance that when the third wicket fell at 35, the first three batsmen had contributed a grand total of just 2 runs. Aravinda went on to score 66 runs off 47 balls. Someone (I think it was Richie Benaud) described it as a ‘blinder’ of an innings.

    In the Final, SL was not in a very much better position when Aravinda came in to bat. The team was 2 wickets down for just 23 runs of which Jayasuriya had contributed 9. Aravinda set about steadying the innings, helped Gurusinha get through some difficult patches and went on to be unbeaten on 107. For good measure, he also captured 3 wickets and took 2 catches. Not surprisingly, he was the Man of the Match. And, in my book, here was a true match winner.

    I have no doubt he will be a very happy man if he can manage to help SL repeat that victory of 14 years ago.

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