Former Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga named new chairman of SLC selection committee

Colombo: Sports minister Harin Fernando on Wednesday announced former opener Upul Tharanga as the new chairman of national selection committee after accepting recommendations from the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The five-member committee also has former players Ajantha Mendis, Indika De Saram, Tharanga Paranavitana and Dilruwan Perera on board. The new committee will be in vogue for two years and their immediate task will be to select the Lankan team for the six-match white ball series against Zimbabwe to be played at Colombo between 6 to 18 January. The reconstitution of the selection panel was necessitated after Lanka’s modest outing the ICC ODI World Cup where they finished ninth on the 10-team table with two wins and seven defeats. The earlier selection committee was headed by former pacer Pramodaya Wickramasingha who had made a rather explosive allegation of “outside conspiracy” for Lanka’s poor outing performance in the marquee event held in India. Later, the International Cricket Council had suspended Lanka from top level cricket for political interference in the running of cricket, and also shifted the Under-19 World Cup to South Africa from the Island nation.