Ashantha de Mel retained as chief

Sri Lanka selection panel reshuffled

Cricinfo staff

July 31, 2007

The national selection committee was reshuffled on Tuesday and, despite opposition from Sri Lanka Cricket, former fast bowler Ashantha de Mel was retained as chief of the selection panel by Gamini Lokuge, the Sri Lankan sports minister.

Don Anurasiri, the former left-arm spinner, also keeps his place from the previous panel while Mahes Goonatilleke and Ranjith Madurasinghe replace Amal Silva and Shabir Asgerally in the new committee. "I have considered their wide experience as former cricketers," Lokuge told AFP after naming the four-man committee.

Goonatilleke was Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper during their inaugural Test against England in 1982 before joining a rebel tour of South Africa later that year that ended his Test career. Madurasinghe, a former off spinner who made his Test debut at Lord's in 1988, has played three Tests and starts his second stint as a selector.

The new panel's first task will be to pick a squad for the inaugural Twenty20 world championships in South Africa in September.

© Cricinfo

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Players/Umpires

Don Anurasiri

Ashantha de Mel

Mahes Goonatilleke

Ranjith Madurasinghe

Teams

Sri Lanka