Selectors pressured to change their stance
Former captain and master of more than 200 ODI matches Angelo Mathews and Dushmantha Chameera have been called up desperately by an equally panicky Selection Committee to beef up a cornered Sri Lanka team at the Cricket World Cup now taking place in India.
The Selectors who have now been made to eat their own words have according to one of them told Mathews he could play in the team only if there is an injury issue to a current player.
Asking that he not be named the Selector, who is one of four, said Sri Lanka Cricket was now making a desperate attempt and even hoping that some player will be injured or will have to deliberately injure himself to ensure Mathews gets in.
Sri Lankan Chief Selector forced to change his selection policy
Mathews was one of the players in good domestic form at the time the original squad was selected but overlooked for political reasons according to a source at Sri Lanka Cricket.
But when told that Mathews was not originally registered with the World Cup organizing committee as an official reserve player, the Selector said there is provision to register the 36 year old who captained the team at the 2015 World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
“He is already a registered reserve and if that is not valid we can make a case for him and the ICC will not object”, he said.
The Selectors and their bosses at Sri Lanka Cricket have come under intense public fire over the picking of the 15-man World Cup squad that was announced only on the day they boarded a flight for New Delhi.
Beleaguered Sri Lanka Cricket officials have also been slammed for a spate of injuries to players that occurred during the LPL that culminated just a week before the World Cup which experts contend was due to shortsightedness on the part of the game’s keepers who were only interested in profits from the LPL.
“India ended its IPL five months before the World Cup and that gave players enough time to recover or treat their injuries if there were any, but we have no concern for player management and the results are now showing,” said a former player who did not wish to be quoted by name as he is employed by Sri Lanka Cricket as a coach.
