da cassino online： The Sri Lankan Sports Minister, Lakshmann Kiriella, has questioned theomission of off spinner Thilan Samaraweera from the squad to play in theforthcoming Coca Cola Cup against India and New Zealand
Rex Clementine12-Jul-2001The Sri Lankan Sports Minister, Lakshmann Kiriella, has questioned theomission of off spinner Thilan Samaraweera from the squad to play in theforthcoming Coca Cola Cup against India and New Zealand.The Sports Ministry confirmed this morning to CricInfo that Kiriella isunhappy that Samaraweera has not been given a chance after his impressiveperformances against Pakistan A and has still not passed the 15-man squad.In Sri Lanka it is customary for the Sports Minister to approve theselectors squad, but this is rarely more than a rubber-stamping exercise.The intervention of the Minister is unusual, particularly so for a minorissue.His actions though are no unprecedented. In 1994 the Sports Minister wasrequired to involvement in a dispute over the omission of Aravinda de Silvafor Sharjah tournament because he failed to pass a fitness test. Theincident sparked a vehement player protest, which included the then captain,Arjuna Ranatunga, refusing to tour. Even then, however, on an issue of highimportance, the Sports Minister’s role was confined to involvement, ratherthan intervention.Samaraweera recently captained Sri Lanka A against Pakistan and performedexceptionally well in both the Test Matches and One Day Internationals, butthe experienced Kumar Dharmasena was preferred. It must have been a marginaldecision, but with five pace bowlers selected it came down to a difficultchoice between the two off spinners.When CricInfo contacted the chairman of the selection committee T.B.Khelgamuwa this morning he said that he had not been notified of anyintervention by the Sports Ministry.The Ministry said that they would be taking up the matter with cricket boardChief Executive Anura Tennekoon, but did reveal as to whether they wouldoverrule the original selection at such a late stage.