Sri Lankan cricket chief defends selectors

Sri Lankan cricket board chief Hemaka Amarasirya has defended the selectors decision to blood a battery of young fast bowlers on the current tour of South Africa.

The three-man selection panel, headed by former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Guy de Alwis, have been heavily criticised the Sri Lankan media for picking eight medium pacers in their 17-man squad.

The squad included three uncapped youngsters - Thilan Thushara, Tharanga Lakshitha and Hasantha Fernando.

However, as speculation increased in Colombo that the Sports Minister would shortly announce changes to the current panel, with current team consultant Duleep Mendis tipped to chair an expanded five-man committee, Amarasuriya argued that the selectors were right to explore options for the future.

"Selectors of our National Cricket team have faced considerable criticism for blooding young players at the expense of experienced players who are presently unable to perform at a degree of consistency required of them at International level," he said.

"A lesser known fact is that out of our established players, only Dilhara Fernando is below 23 years of age. Comparatively, most other Test playing nations have blooded 2 or 3 players below the age of 23 years.

"This leaves Sri Lanka with a future replacement void, a dilemma that will surface in about four years time, if not corrected.

"A National Sports Body will be falling short if it allows talent to fade away into oblivion without as much as giving them a chance to blossom to their true potential."