Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera rejects Sanath Jayasuriya's resignation

The ongoing tussle between National Cricket Selectors and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board which prompted Chairman of Selectors Sanath Jayasuriya to tender his resignation needed Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera’s intervention to douse the growing discontent between the top level of Sri Lankan Cricket.

Earlier, new broke that Jayasuriya had decided to step down as the chairman of the section committee and had even forwarded his resignation to the Minister of Sports on Wednesday (21). Jayasuriya stated that he was unhappy with the interference of some members by the Cricket Executive Board. He also opposed SLC’s decision to stop selectors for visiting ongoing tours.

Minister Jayasekera, when contacted, confirmed the meeting with the legendary cricketer in his office last morning contrary to Jayasuriya who denied meeting the minister or sending his resignation in.

“Yes I met him yesterday,” minister said. “He had few concerns which I will sort them out soon. Minister admitted that Jayasuriya main concern was the alleged interference on selection by some members of the cricket Executive Committee. Another grievance is Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) decision not to send a selector on tour, a practice which Jayasuriya enjoyed during his previous term in office.

“There had been some interference or attempts by various individuals in the Executive Committee to interfere in the selection process. I will discuss this with the President and sort this out,” he added. When contacted Jayasuriya he bluntly denied the story.

“No I did not give (resignation),” he said. When asked whether he met the minister he said “No, but I am waiting to meet him. Jayasuriya took over as Chief Selector once more, little over a year after he stepped down from the role, replacing an ad-hoc committee led by Aravinda de Silva in April this year.

De Silva took charge after the Cricket Board unceremoniously sacked the committee headed by Kapila Wijegunawardane, just hours before the Sri Lanka Team’s tour to the ICC T20 World Cup in March. Wijegunawardane’s committee refused to make changes to the squad named for the World T20 Tournament.