Dulip Mendis, Roy Dias, Sidat Wettimuny, Asantha de Mel, Aravinda de Silva and Graeme Labrooy were some of the most illustrious names to sit around the table at Selection Committee meetings to pick players for the Sri Lanka team and most of the time they got it right apart from the occasions the Press threw brick bats at them when the team lost.
But in an era when sport is one of the fastest selling commodities and players able to market themselves at numerous commercial Leagues all over the world, the job of a team Selector is no more a task for the Specialist.
In the past, players would sometimes stick around for up to five or six years hoping for a break to wear the Sri Lanka cap with pride and honour. But today with so many T20 and T10 Leagues played all over the world, Selectors would find themselves pleading with players, a complete reversal.
To hoodwink cricket followers the ruse adopted by Sri Lanka Cricket to form its Selection Committee is now to send as many names as possible for five to be selected in a game of Musical Chairs and it goes without saying that the selectees have to pay attention and dance to the whims and fancies of the hierarchy calling the shots in the Boardrooms before deciding on a tour party.
What the country knows now is that the behind-the-scene players played for time and when the music stopped, Upul Tharanga, Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavithana, Dilruwan Perera and Indika de Saram sat tight.
But going by tradition, just how the mild-mannered Upul Tharanga will be able to live up to the task of picking competitive teams in accordance with his conscience and not be manipulated is left to be seen.
Tharanga will also find himself in a situation where he will have to do better than his predecessors have done in the past, in a most demanding and present scenario where nothing short of professionalism on the part of a high-earning player will be accepted.
Tharanga and his band of Selectors have won the game of Musical Chairs but will they be able not just to pick the best players for the job in the Sri Lanka team, but study the strengths and weaknesses of the world’s formidable teams picked by Selectors who have better and proven track records.
Outgoing head selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe whose name was also on a list of 10 names sent to the Sports Ministry and missed out for another stint, called it a day with a solid defence of what he did for 30 months.
“In a Statement dispatched to his peers in the Media, Wickremasinghe declared: “It is my belief that I and my fellow selectors have found several highly talented young cricketers who will be the future of the Sri Lankan cricket team.
“This current group of young cricketers will achieve great heights after gaining much valuable experience within the next two years”.
It can also be argued that T20 and T10 leagues all over the world will do the job of the Selectors by practically unearthing their potential.
