Mohan de Silva to contest for president

Mohan de Silva, the secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, is tipped to be the next president of the association. De Silva, who is currently attending the ICC Executive Board meeting in Auckland, was the only nominee for the post when nominations closed on Tuesday. The decision will be taken in the Annual General Meeting on March 31.

With the exception of the post of vice-presidents, for which there are three contestants, all the other office-bearer posts will remain uncontested. Aravinda de Silva, who is the current vice-president, along with Trevor Rajaratnam and Michael de Zoysa will contest for the two vice-president posts. Rajaratnam is presently the assistant secretary and de Zoysa the disciplinary committee chairman.

Ravin Wickremaratne, the former Panadura SC fast bowler who is currently a member of the tour organizing committee, is coming forward as assistant secretary to Lourance Amerasena. Amerasena who is presently the tournament committee chairman will vie for the secretary's post. Lucien Merrinage will remain assistant treasurer with nobody else contesting for that post.

The only new name in the list of office bearers is Nuski Mohamed, who is coming forward as treasurer. Mohamed, the former treasurer and secretary during the Gamini Dissanayake era of the eighties, is a chartered accountant by profession.

Apart from Mohamed, all the contestants have served in various capacities under Thilanga Sumathipala. Sumathipala, the current president, will not be coming forward for another term. Neither A.J.M. Muzzamil and Lal Nanayakkara, the vice-president and treasurer respectively, will contest for any post.

An Executive Committee meeting will be held on Monday after the return of Mohan de Silva to ratify the nominations.