da betcris： Sri Lanka’s five-man selection committee will select the Test squad for theforthcoming three-match series against India on Thursday night and they lookset to omit veteran batsmen Aravinda de Silva
Charlie Austin08-Aug-2001Sri Lanka’s five-man selection committee will select the Test squad for theforthcoming three-match series against India on Thursday night and they lookset to omit veteran batsmen Aravinda de Silva.De Silva, recently cleared by the Sri Lankan board of the match fixingallegations levied against him by Mukesh Gupta in the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) report, was not awarded a player contract in June, buthad been selected in the 26-man training squad for the India tour.De Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan, both of whom played against England inMarch, are expected to be dropped, as in form opener Avishka Gunawardene andveteran middle order batsman Hashan Tillakaratne are earmarked for recalls.This is not the first time that the star batsman has been dumped. He hasonly played sporadically in Sri Lanka’s successful one-day squad since the1999 World Cup and he was dropped for the three-Test tour of South Africalast December.Sri Lanka struggled without his experience and he was eventually sent toSouth Africa for the final Test at Centurion, as a replacement for UpulChandana, who suffered a hand injury. He stayed with the team for their fivematch one-day series in New Zealand and was selected for the England series,in which he scored his 19th Test century in the first Test at Galle.Since then, however, he has played little competitive cricket and questionshave been raised by his laissez faire attitude to training. He has been inand out of the country and there is the suspicion that he no longer has theappetite for Test cricket, especially after failing to turn up for athree-day training camp in Dambulla before the Coca-Cola Cup.Unfortunately, it seems that there has been little communicationbetween the selectors and De Silva. He was understandably disappointed tohave not been awarded a player contract and has been left guessing as to hisposition within Sri Lankan cricket.A recall and a proper farewell is not out of the question – it has happenedtoo many times before to rule it out – but that depends on the performanceof the middle order in the first two Test matches. Certainly, if injuriesoccur, he can expect a call.Sri Lanka are likely to play seven batsmen. Sanath Jayasuriya, MarvanAtapattu, Mahela Jayawardene and Russel Arnold are automatic selections, butthe remaining three places will be the subject of some conjecture atThursdays selection meeting.Early indications suggest that Avishka Gunwardene may be rewarded for recentfine form and asked to open the innings, pushing Atapattu down to numberthree. Jayasuriya may prefer, however, to stick with his erstwhile openingpartner in Test cricket.Hashan Tillakaratne looks certain to play after a two-year absence since the1999 World Cup, when he and Roshan Mahanama were summarily dropped as theselectors looked to the future. Unlike Mahanama, however, he never gave uphope of playing again and has impressed with a stack of runs in the domesticseason and a good attitude. Captain of Nondescripts Cricket Club he toppedthe averages having scored 665 runs at 110.83 and made three hundreds.His tenacious batting style has helped to bring him back into recognitiontoo, with Sri Lanka’s middle order failing too often in recent times. The34-year-old used to be one of Sri Lanka’s most consistent Test batsmen,averaging 38.59 after 52 matches, and the selectors will be hoping that hecan add some steel to the batting line up.Kumar Sangakkara’s position is apparently in doubt after some poor form inrecent times, but his omission would be scandalous. He was the third highestSri Lankan run scorer in the last Test series against England and was thehighest run scoring in South Africa. With four half centuries to his name ina relatively short career his name should be penciled in immediately.Whether he keeps wicket or not will depend on whether the selectors arewilling to hand Romesh Kaluwitharana another chance. He was jettisonedbehind the stumps after his inconsistency with the bat, but the selectorsmay look favourably upon him after a more consistent run of form in theone-day game of late. If he plays then Gunawardene would have to make way.The bowling is simpler. Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and MuttiahMuralitharan can start marking out their run-ups, but the selection of thethird seamer is harder now with Nuwan Zoysa still on the sidelines. SureshPerera, Ruchira Perera, and Dinusha Fernando are all in the running, withRuchira Perera being the slight favourite. It could though be decided by who bowls best in the current practice game against India.