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Ashantha de Mel, the newly appointed Sri Lankan chairman of national selectors, has alleged that Sanath Jayasuriya was forced to retire from Test cricket. He has also blamed his country's cricket establishment for the "mess" that the national side is in. Sri Lanka's fortunes have dipped significantly since an interim committee took over last year - they slipped from second to sixth in the ICC's one-day rankings and from fourth to seventh in Tests - and de Mel has criticised Tom Moody, the national coach, for failing to deliver.
Speaking to the Sunday Island, de Mel, 46, claimed that Jayasuriya's surprise decision to quit Test cricket was a result of pressure from Lalith Kaluperuma, a former selection head. "I have very reliable information that he was forced to retire," de Mel said. "I was surprised when I heard that he was going to retire. If a player wants to retire he does that before a series, but on this instance he was forced to retire and for me it's totally wrong. They should have at least respected the man because he has done so much for the country, but on this instance he was basically asked to pack his bags and go home."
De Mel backed Jayasuriya's ability to perform in the national side even at the age of 36. "I can tell you that he's undoubtedly the fittest in the team and if you take the current crop of players and ask them to do a 100-meter sprint he will come first," he said. "When the selectors knew that Marvan [Atapattu] is not going to make it to England with his back problem they should have continued with Jayasuriya. He just played a county season in England last year and knows the conditions well and is the only Sri Lankan to have scored a double hundred in England. What more credentials do you want?"
De Mel hinted at a possible request to Jayasuriya to return to the Test fold if Sri Lanka's inexperienced openers failed in the first Test against England at Lord's on Thursday. "Sri Lanka now has two inexperienced openers in Upul Tharanga and Michael Van Dort and any bowling attack would love to bowl at them instead of Jayasuriya, even when he is out of form. All I can say is that the selectors got their onions mixed up," he said. "If these guys don't do well in the first Test it's prudent to send Sanath to play the remainder of the series. He's a proven player and still has a lot of cricket in him."[/quote:1e7qy9lu]
The truth of De Mel's statements might depend on how Jayasuriya responds. If he's silent, I think there's a definite chance that this is true. But if he comes out and completely denies this statement, I'll probably go for Jaya's words.