By Revatha S. Silva
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has allegedly sacked Sri Lanka national cricket team Manager Manuja Kariyapperuma ahead of the Zimbabwe One-Day International (ODI) series at home, starting on 16 January.
SLC is now going to look for Kariyapperuma’s replacement at least before Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia, starting in the first week of February, The Morning Sports reliably learnt yesterday (4).
Controversies
“There were various controversies binding Kariyapperuma since he was appointed early last year. First there had been a conflict of interest as he was anyway a paid staffer at the SLC overlooking part of its development side. You cannot have two salaries for board.
“At the same time the responsibility of the disciplinary breach of three players (Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, and Niroshan Dickwella) in July last year in England needs to go to him because he was the on-tour Manager,” an SLC source said yesterday on the condition of anonymity.
Jayaratne to be interim Manager?
SLC have reportedly advertised already to join a new permanent Manager for the national side and about a dozen individuals have already applied for the post, we learnt.
For the interim period, particularly for the short Zimbabwe ODI series, SLC’s High Performance Centre Head Jerome Jayaratne is likely to be appointed as Sri Lanka Manager, the source further revealed.
Appointed in April 2021
Kariyapperuma was first appointed as the Interim Manager of the Sri Lanka cricket team in April last year for the home Test series against Bangladesh.
It was not clear whether Kariyapperuma resigned from his post as consultant for SLC Women’s Cricket Operations and Development after he was appointed as the Manager in April.
Our effort to get through to SLC officials for clarifying the matter proved futile yesterday.