Sports - Temp

Sri Lanka skipper Marvan Atapattu who returned from Australia after surgery will miss the forthcoming two test matches against South Africa and the one day tri nation tournament.

Speaking to The Sunday Times Chairman of Selectors Ashantha de Mel said, “Marvan has returned from Australia after attending to his back injury but needs time to rehabilitate himself and strengthen his back. He is very eager to get back on the field. However we do not want to rush him back into the team until he is 100% fit. I had a chat with Marvan and he has also agreed to this and so we decided to leave him out of the two tests and the tri nation tournament and prepare him for the ICC Champions trophy in India in September”.

The Sri Lanka selectors have selected two initial squads of 20 players each for the tests and the tri nation tournament and are awaiting the arrival of Coach Tom Moody from England tomorrow before releasing the names to the media.

Mahela Jayawardene who led Sri Lanka in the absence of Marvan Atapattu will once again lead the team in the two test matches against South Africa and the tri-nation tournament which will also involve India. Jayawardene is also expected to return to the island tomorrow after extending his stay in Europe with his family after the successful twin tours of England and Holland.

SLC delays nominating ICC umpires again!

Meanwhile The Sunday Times learns from informed sources that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) authorities have failed to nominate the three umpires to the ICC Emirates International Panel before the stipulated deadline which was the 30th of June. Although ICC had requested for nominations a few months back from SLC giving adequate time it is believed that the names of umpires were sent only a few days ago. In fact this is the second time in succession that SLC has failed to meet the deadline. Last year SLC nominations were late by over two months and as a result the Lankan umpires who were nominated failed to get any International matches during the first quarter of that year. If the ICC sticks to their original deadline of 30 th June, Sri Lanka will run the risk of not having any umpires in the Emirates International Umpires Panel. Last year Asoka de Silva , Tyronne Wijeywardene and Peter Manuel were in the ICC International Panel and were expected to retain their positions for this year as well. However with the glaring lapse of the SLC for the second successive year, De Silva, Wijeywardene and Manuel could be sidelined by the ICC! As one source pointed out this is the result of not having competent and efficient persons at important positions in the SLC.