As far as I know, players were not against performance based payment system. What they asked was to reveal the marking scheme they were categorized which is a fair request. So no one needs to explain that..Have you have any idea how dickwella got a first grade contract ahead Dimuth? Because I do not have…Dimuth performed well in the first woworld test championship and even got in to world test team, while dickwella only has a few half centuries.He did reasonably well in ODIs, iinvolving many 100and50s while dickwella being dropped from ODI side due to poor performances..If they can reveal player’s monthly payments to the public, they would also be possible to reveal the marking scheme of players too..

Mark my word here. Soon SLC would find that KJP is an injury-prone, lacking fitness, and a person who has no heart or soul as a captain. He is a unique player. Yet not an organized player and plays his own game in his natural instincts. He is not a guy who plans things, goes through stats and organize things. His captaincy of LPL says it all.
What we will see in near future is that another round of captaincy roller-coaster, where naming and sacking captains would be a common sight. In my view, Dimuth could carry the team till 2023 WC, while a guy like dhananjaya or shanaka can take the baton thereafter.
Hope I would be wrong for sake of SL cricket.

Agree with your comments. We cannot play Karunarathne, Thirimanne, and Angie in the first six. One has to sit out. Apparently, it is Thirimanne. I only worry about the fact that whether Avishka can deliver at the top on a continuous basis.

No problem in taking bold decisions…In fact it is what we need badly at the moment. But those bold decisions should serve a purpose. I can not understand how inclusion of a player like Priyamal perera in to the team in the last two ODI would serve apurpose. Here, ahead the WC, I think we have to decide one thing and have to take a bold decision. Either we have to go and try at least to save our pride of cannot win the trophy..or we have to forget it and try to build a team for future.In latter case we have to drop all players who cannot feature in next WC and all players involve in troubles within the team..And go with a young team. But asantha’s moves do not show anything..

Thanks for this excellent write-off sanjeewa.
Let’s forget about Santh’s stint as the head of the selection committee, as no point of talking of his selections. When it comes to Labrooy, he has his weaknesses. But once he blent with Hathurusinghe, they had a good understanding between them. We all know that Hathurusinghe had an official authority in team selection and unofficial influence in squad selection. One can see it as his power hunger. But in another point of view, when you have given an utmost challenge to build up a team which was messed up by administrators and selectors, he may need some amount of control under him to conquer his task. As we see now, he has been the final responsible person for teams poor performances and is to be sacked. With labrooy, Hathurusinghe followed a clear method in selections. It was all about giving continuous opportunities to young players who have been identified as key players for WC so that gaining confidence and experiences. On the other hand, challenging and focusing on being rhythm and fit were what was expected from experienced players like Upul, Angie and Thisara. When they were not there, they were asked to get it and come back to resettle in the team.
It is all about coming into the rhythm and form just ahead of the WC. In 2014, SL was in a good rhythm and it was not when we were ahead of the WC 2015. If Hatu-Labrooy formula could continue, SL would have a mix of experienced players and young group of players who have gained some amount of experience and confidence. The only problem is this has to achieve over a string of defeats. The prime example of this sort of team building process is Australia. After a string of failures and disappointments, just ahead of WC, they beat India in India and in a good rhythm.
What happened when Asantha came to the scene. First, he wanted his power back in team selection from Hathurusinghe and he got it. Hathrusinghe had no more influence in the squad or team selection. Then he criticized and dropped chandimal, who was the only man who showed some amount of leadership qualities among those captaincy nominees, bringing back least suitable person for the leadership. Then he messed up team selection. Three debutants and a few young players brought to the ODI side, knowing that they have no chance in WC and team combination changed a game by game in different positions. Dickwella, who was the regular keeper and VC in the side who had scored 3 fifties, two more thirty plus runs in last 9 games dropped after three games. Akila Dhanajaya who was once the prime wicket taker of the team came back after remodeling his off-spin. His performances after the return were not impressive, but we do not know whether it is due to his remodeling of action or not being in the international game for a few months. instead of giving him a continuous go to assess the situation or to gain his rhythm, he dropped and called and dropped.
He should be given the credits for bringing Isuru Udana back to the team. Osada is promising, yes. But overall Asantha spoiled SL preparations for WC in big time.

One has to give credits to Hathurusinghe for learning from past experiences. This will be a good lesson for SLC. They bring high-class coaches from somewhere and without giving them adequate time to work, throw them to the thrash bin. I think it is fair compensation to hathurusinghe for the damage done to his image from stealing him from BAN to sacking him just ahead of the WC.

I think when you talking of UT’s avg, it is better to consider his batting positions too. In 2015/16 period, he was severely underused and we saw him batted at number 8/9 in ODIs. This also effects for these averages. Anyway, even I also doubt on his position as an opener in the future. Dickwella and Gunathilake have shown recently that they are a good batting pair and the rise of Avishka, worsen the problem to UT further. but given that the middle order struggle of SL team, I think we should see how he would be going as Number 5 batter. With his experience, he can guide the middle order with angie or in case of angie;s absence.

For people who like to go with stats, take these…
Aravinda De Silva in his first 5 years in ODI cricket – Avg= 27
Sanath Jayasuriya in his first 5 years in ODI- Avg=20.18
Marvan Atapattu in his first 5 years in ODI- Avg=10
Mahela Jayawardene in his first 5 years in ODI- Avg= 32 (Even after that 5 years he only got 21 runs in 9 innings in 2003 WC

Every SL batsman had gone an inconsistent period of 4-5 years in international cricket and people who survived this period have gone for the glory… It is due to the poor infrastructure of our cricket and giving them a 5 year is fair compensation. Even the present hero Kusal Perera had to go through a similar 5 years before he established in the side. If someone says Kusal Mendis is built only for test cricket, it is a joke. He is a naturally aggressive player. Anyone can see it when he plays. During the last 4 years, SL has invested heavily on Kusal Mendis in ODI cricket and so we have to let him play for the WC. If he finds his rhythm, he is the biggest match winner we have in upcoming WC. If he would not, keep him on the bench, and by WC 2023, he will be a mature cricketer with experiences with games biggest event. There is always a risk. Giving that the potential posses to Kusal Mendis, it is worthwhile to take this risk.

He is a victim of those FB page admins who begs ‘like’s, ‘share’s and ‘comments. What he is going through is the difficult passage through which every SL batsmen had to go due to our poor infrastructure of cricket. Apart he was unfortunate to represent the country in the darkest era of SL cricket and in such a young age he has been a main stray of the team. Ideally, this is the period he has to grow under seniors. in between multiple failures, he shows his potential. He has already done things which the great Virat kohli has not done and things we did not expect from sanga, mahela and aravinda even in our dreams..

An excellent comparison Mr Pivithuru.. Hat off…There is no fair comparison in the world than comparing SL team with Eng and IND…Look at the last few years. We have 6 captains and they only have one each..Except a few places, they are all settled in their playing XI for the WC for years now and in SL players are still fighting for their places due to the huge competition due to the talent arising through our 1st class cricket. Our fast bowlers are head to head with fast bowlers of IND and ENG..keep aside the administration and selecting committees we had and have which are excellent in every aspect than ENG and IND along with technical aspect, yet it is a fair comparison..

Honestly, sometimes I doubt, whether you are Upul Tharanga himself, than Pivithuru..Every comment, Every article will end up with stats of UT in past 2.5 years (not considering stats in 2018 alone, the year he was dropped) like the “Makka story”..