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Former SL Captain blasts incompetent selectors

31 Mar 2021

[caption id="attachment_127402" align="alignleft" width="446"] Sri Lanka’s former Captain Shashikala Siriwardene during a Women’s World Cup match against Australia in Mumbai in February 2013[/caption]

Former Sri Lanka Women’s cricket Captain Shashikala Siriwardene yesterday (30) said it is time that competent officials handle women’s cricket selection in the country.

“What I want to say is that when we get the services to national women’s cricket system, we must get down people who know the game better,” Siriwardene told The Morning Sports yesterday.

Reportedly, one of the current national selection committee members has aired displeasure over retired Sri Lanka senior players, including Siriwardene, taking part in the ongoing inter-club women’s limited-over tournament, conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

“I play for the Navy (in the domestic tournament) and it is our (navy) officials who are handling the team's selections. I have nothing to do with it. But even though I have retired from the national side, I continue to play for my club. A current national selector (who Siriwardene refrained from naming) have indicated that not only me, some of the other senior players too, who are now playing in the inter-club tournament, should no longer play in the domestic (tournament),” Siriwardene said.

Former Sri Lanka Captain Siriwardene has also showed her distress over that opinion on her official Facebook account too, yesterday.

“Other countries such as India and Bangladesh get our services in their leagues like the IPL (the Indian Premier League) by paying us money. They do it with a view to strengthening their domestic structure. They make use of our experience and pass that onto their next level. Nobody in our country pays us especially for playing in our domestic tournaments. But still we continue to play in our domestic tournaments. My point is that, it is good for our domestic structure if our seniors are continuing to play in them for some more time,” she said.

“Rather than thanking those seniors, certain national selectors have expressed their displeasure over us playing in them,” she lamented.

Siriwardene, who is considered the best women’s cricketer to play for Sri Lanka, has scored over 2,000 runs and taken 100 plus wickets in ODIs. She has played in 118 ODIs and 81 T20Is since 2003, also having captained the country in nearly 50 ODIs before retiring in March last year.

[caption id="attachment_127403" align="alignright" width="213"] Shashikala Siriwardene’s Facebook post yesterday (30)[/caption]

“What I say is even in future, when we get the services of individuals for such important national jobs, there should be better way of making those enrolments. We have much better people who could have served our country better in such capacities,” Siriwardene stressed.

“There are many senior players who have played the women’s cricket better. They could have been involved in such key positions.”

Currently the Sri Lanka junior and women’s cricket selection are handled by (Ms.) Nilmini Gunarathne, Hemantha Devapriya, and Uvais Karnain.

The National Sports Selection Committee and the National Sports Council, both being headed by General Shavendra Silva, are having the final authority on selection committees, squads, and teams before the Sports Minister giving the final ratification.

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