De Mel ousted as chief selector

Minister Jeewan Kumaratunga only reappointed the selection panel three weeks ago, so his decision to suddenly dismiss de Mel, as well as former test spinner Ranjith Madurasinghe, is a surprising one.

Kaluperuma, himself a former off spinner, has been part of the selection committee since April 2003 and also chaired the panel prior to de Mel's appointment a year ago.

The revised selection panel, appointed for a one-year term, now consists of Kaluperuma, K.M. Nelson, Don Anurasiri, Pramodya Wickramasinghe and Shabbir Asgerally.

De Mel's tenure at the helm of the selection committee was most notable for a public dispute with skipper Marvan Atapattu and the team management during last October's tour to Pakistan.

Atapattu was left fuming when batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan was dropped from the team without consultation and senior players were blamed for blocking the selection of younger ones.

Atapattu and De Mel later patched up their differences, publicly at least, and the rest of his tenure was relatively less controversial.

The committee was even commended for standing firm in the face of political pressure to recall veteran Hashan Tillakaratne for the New Zealand tour late last year.

The revised panel's first task will be to select an 'A' squad to play a touring West Indies side later this month.