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Tim Bresnan has declared his Test ambitions after his impressive performance in England’s seven-wicket victory over South Africa in the fourth ODI in Port Elizabeth.

Cricinfo staff01-Dec-2009Tim Bresnan has declared his Test ambitions following his impressive performance in England’s seven-wicket victory over South Africa during the fourth ODI in Port Elizabeth. He displayed control and hostility to take 1 for 15 in eight overs and help England to an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the series.Despite making his Test debut against West Indies earlier in the year, when he filled in for the injured Andrew Flintoff, Bresnan was not included in the Test squad to face South Africa. Instead Luke Wright and Liam Plunkett were selected as England try to find an allrounder for the No. 7 spot. Bresnan admits he wanted to be on the tour but feels he can earn back his Test place.”I’m a little bit disappointed,” he told reporters in Durban. “I don’t label myself as just a one-day cricketer. I want to be in the Test team – it’s the height of cricket, as far up as you can go. But I’ve just got to work my way into that.”Having made his ODI debut almost three years ago, success has been a long time coming for Bresnan. Back then he was given a harsh lesson by the touring Sri Lankans – he took two wickets and conceded 169 runs at 6.76 in his four matches – but he feels a different cricketer from the one who struggled to make an impact.”I’m more confident as a cricketer. Back then, I was like … ‘Should I be here, do I deserve to be – am I good enough?’ Now I think ‘Yeah, damn right I am. I’ll show you what I’ve got and get you out – rather than just try to keep this on the island’.”Now 24, Bresnan has grown into his role as a back-up bowler to James Anderson and Stuart Broad and has contributed useful runs down the order too, most notably a composed 80 that salvaged England’s innings after they collapsed in the semi-final defeat to Australia in the Champions Trophy.”I’m relaxed and enjoying my cricket, and feeling good. That’s pretty much how I operate for Yorkshire. It’s just taken me a while to transfer that into an England shirt. There’s a little bit more pressure obviously, and about 20,000 more people [in the crowd] as well. But you’ve just got to put all that aside and concentrate on what you’ve got to do.”

It isn’t only the crowds that Kevin Pietersen is having to battle in South Africa, but also his own form after a four-month injury lay-off follow Achilles surgery

Cricinfo staff30-Nov-2009It isn’t only the crowds that Kevin Pietersen is having to battle in South Africa, but also his own form after a four-month injury lay-off following Achilles surgery. His innings during the one-day series have been unconvincing, but given the career he has already had, expectations were always going to be high as soon as he returned to the England side.His soft chip to midwicket at Port Elizabeth ended a six-ball 3 in which he had already been dropped at long leg off a top-edged hook. At Centurion Park he made 29 off 19 balls in the second Twenty20, his comeback match, but managed just 4 in the one-day international on the same ground. His top score of 45 came in Cape Town but, although there was the odd glimpse of his usual style, he looked like a player feeling his way back.The camp, though, remain unconcerned about Pietersen’s results. Before the fourth ODI, Paul Collingwood said it was only to be expected that he would struggle for a while after such a long time out and now the coach, Andy Flower, has said he it was always going to be a challenge for Pietersen.”I wouldn’t be too worried. I think he’s going to take a little while to get back in form,” Flower told reporters after England arrived in Durban. “Being out for four months – when he’s used to playing all the time – I think is a challenge he’s going to have to overcome.”He’s a high achiever, an outstanding sportsman – and he will be very impatient to get back into his dominant ways again. I think we should be patient with him, because it’s not easy just to walk back in and dominate straight away.”Given Pietersen’s record of performing best when the pressure is on, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him emerge from his early problems during the final one-day international at Durban – his old home ground for Natal and where he first encountered England during the 1999-2000 tour and made his intentions known about switching allegiance.”He tends to want to do it his way,” Flower said. “That’s part of his strength, his make-up – what makes him a different and very powerful player for us. He will score heavy runs on this tour, and maybe Friday is the day. It could be his day.”

Ian Chappell has said that India don’t have the resources to retain their No.1 spot in the ICC Test rankings for a long enough period to emulate Australia and the great West Indies teams

Cricinfo staff12-Jan-2010Former Australian captain and leading commentator Ian Chappell has said India don’t have the resources to retain their No.1 spot in the ICC Test rankings for a long enough period to emulate Australia and the great West Indies teams of the past. Chappell said that India’s batting alone will not sustain them and to do so, they will have to unearth a couple of champion bowlers.Chappell and former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar aired their views in Time Out, Cricinfo’s new fortnightly audio show hosted by the leading commentator Harsha Bhogle. India bagged the top ranking from Australia after beating Sri Lanka 2-0 in the three-Test series at home last month. India jumped from No. 3 to No.1 for first time since the rankings came into place in May 2001.Manjrekar said a big reason for India’s success is the arrival of a strong opening pair in Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, and the ability to adjust to foreign conditions.”It’s a huge asset to have, a stable opening pair. I noticed a change in India’s batting around the time Sourav Ganguly was leading India, John Wright was in charge, and I saw India playing on foreign pitches,” Manjrekar said. “I found that the new generation of Indian batsmen could play the pull shot, the cut shot, and they were pretty good against the short deliveries.”However, Chappell felt that India have completed only half the job of being a well-rounded team.”I don’t think great teams are built on opening batting partnerships. But to me, there is a far more important thing, and this is one reason why I don’t rate India as a long-term No.1, ” Chappell said. “I think you have got to have two champion bowlers in your line-up to be a long-term successful cricket team. That is where India is falling down at the moment.”When I look at the averages and the strike-rates for India in the last 12 months, I don’t see two champion bowlers. In fact, I am struggling to find one champion bowler in that line-up. They’ve got some good bowlers. Sure, they have got a very good batting line-up, but the bowling is really not good enough to see them win consistently all around the world.”Over the last two years, India have played 20 Tests, winning nine and losing three. Three of those wins have come against Australia, including one in Perth during their last tour in 2007-08. Chappell acknowledged that India had performed above themselves in the last two tours of Australia, but their success would have tasted much better had they beaten them while they were still a major force in international cricket.Since the collective retirement of their champion players like Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer and later Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, Australia haven’t produced the same level of consistency in results.”I would have thought it was a greater achievement if they had caught up with Australia while Australia was still very much a great side, rather than waiting for Australia to come back to the field,” Chappell said. “That to me has been the disappointing thing. It seems to me that the other teams have almost thrown their hands and said that ‘it’s hard to beat them, we will just wait for them to fall back and then we will catch them’.”

The pressure an India-Pakistan match in a World Cup brings is storied and, on Saturday, Azeem Ghumman and Ashok Menaria will experience it for the first time

Cricinfo staff22-Jan-2010Azeem Ghumman and Ashok Menaria were not yet in their teens when Sachin Tendulkar blitzed Pakistan at Centurion in the 2003 World Cup. They were merely 17 when Misbah-ul-Haq came agonisingly close to snatching the inaugural World Twenty20 from India in 2007. The pressure an India-Pakistan match in a World Cup brings is storied and, on Saturday, these two teenage leaders will experience it for the first time – when their teams clash in the quarter-final of the Under-19 World Cup in Lincoln.Indian and Pakistani sides have traditionally been the form teams at U-19 World Cups. They enter the tournaments as favourites and rarely fall out of contention before the semi-finals. One will tomorrow. Few expected them to come up against each other so early in the competition. Pakistan won all their league games and topped their group. India won the first two but dropped their last against England. If they hadn’t, they would be playing West Indies.”We are seething after the loss [to England], and we’ll take it out against Pakistan,” Meenaria told the . “The world comes to a standstill when an India-Pakistan match is on.”Pakistan perhaps hold the edge. They scored big against West Indies, bowled Papua New Guinea out cheaply, and held their nerve to win a thriller against Bangladesh. They have the tournament’s highest run-scorer, Babar Azam – 260 runs at an average of 130, and the joint highest wicket-taker, Usman Qadir – eight at 15 apiece.The victories India scored were against Afghanistan and Hong Kong and they ensured India’s qualification even before the loss to England. Unlike the 2008 campaign, when Tanmay Srivastava and Virat Kohli led the batting charts, this time India’s highest runscorer – Rahul Kannaur with 117 in three innings – is 15th on the list. Saurabh Netravalkar, their left-arm fast bowler, could prove to be key. He was exceptional against England, rattling the top order and finishing with figures of 3 for 25.There is an external factor – and a significant one – in India’s favour. They are familiar with conditions at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, having played two group matches there. Pakistan only got to Christchurch a few days ago – their group matches were on North Island. The pitch at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval aids seam bowling, and is good for batting when the sun shines. Scoring runs, however, requires a disciplined approach as India found out the hard way against England. They must learn quickly from their errors; Pakistan, however, have no second chances.Another external factor, an uncontrollable one, favours Pakistan. It rained all day in Christchurch on the eve of the match and although Saturday’s forecast is brighter one can never be certain. Should the match end in a washout, Pakistan will go through to the semi-final because of their better group position. There is no reserve day.Pakistan’s manager, Shafqat Rana, says this side is the best U-19 Pakistan side he has seen but he’s aware of the gravity of the contest. “These children have never played India, forget in a World Cup game, but have grown up watching the high-intensity clashes between the two countries,” he told the . “They are aware of the expectations back home. Be it an U-13 India-Pakistan game or a veterans’ contest, it will always remain special.”And then there’s the raging controversy in the subcontinent over the Pakistan players being ignored by the IPL, and maybe it would provide the contest added edge. Rana didn’t think so. “They are kids, they have very little idea about IPL auction and other issues,” he said. The absence of intense media coverage could also help them focus better.Ghumman, Menaria and their team-mates will say they’re approaching the contest like they would any other. They can try, but all will not succeed. Even the wealth of Tendulkar’s experience in pressure situations couldn’t prevent him from living the Centurion match a year in advance. And even he slept poorly for 12 nights before d-day.

Sachin Tendulkar, who broke the record for the highest ODI score, has said his ability to bat the entire 50 overs was a testament to his good fitness after having played the game for more than 20 years

Cricinfo staff24-Feb-2010Sachin Tendulkar, who broke the record for the highest individual ODI score, overtaking Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry on his way to the format’s first double-hundred, has said his ability to bat the entire 50 overs was a testament to his fitness after having played the game for more than 20 years.”It feels good that I lasted for 50 overs, a good test of my fitness. I’d like to bat another 50 overs at some stage and see that the fitness level doesn’t drop,” Tendulkar said after his effort helped India take a unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. “The ball was coming onto the bat and I was striking the ball well. So when everything falls into its place, it feels nice. It was one of the innings where I felt I was moving well. Since I was timing the ball well, I could be more aggressive and put pressure on the bowlers.”Tendulkar, while dedicating his feat to the people of India, credited coach Gary Kirsten for the team’s success in both forms of the game after the debacle in the World Cup in the Caribbean. “I’ve enjoyed various challenges; after the 2007 World Cup things have looked different and I’m enjoying the game,” he said. “The credit also goes to Gary [Kirsten], he has really held the team beautifully. It’s about togetherness and playing for each other. You see during the practice sessions that Gary himself trains as hard as anyone else, or probably harder than anyone else as he’s the one giving us practice all the time.”Tendulkar said he sensed an opportunity to break the record and reach a double-century when he had gone past 175 in the 42nd over. The record eventually came in the 46th over, and the 200 in the 50th. “When I was near 175-180, I thought I could get a 200 as there were quite a few overs left,” he said. He added that he would prefer his achievement to be upstaged by an Indian. “I don’t play for records, I play for enjoyment and play with lots of passion. That’s how cricket started. I didn’t start playing cricket to break all the records; it’s happened along the way. The dream was to play for India and do my best.”I don’t think any record is unbreakable. Records are made to be broken. I hope that if this record is broken, it’s done by an Indian.”This was India’s third-highest score in ODIs, and Tendulkar said the 400-mark would not have reached if not for some big hitting by Yusuf Pathan and MS Dhoni. “I thought a target of 340-350 would be a good one, but Yusuf Pathan and MS Dhoni came in and hit the big shots and cleared the ropes consistently and helped us pass 400.”Tendulkar added that India were not relaxing despite having put up a mammoth score, for they were aware South Africa were the only team to have chased down a target in excess of 400. “This was the team that chased 434 against Australia. So we didn’t get complacent and told ourselves that we had just got through the half-way stage by scoring 401. And what we did in the second half was extremely important. We were aiming at getting early wickets and putting them out of the game.”Dhoni, who witnessed Tendulkar surpass the record from the other end, said: “I think one of the best innings, you can say. It’s always good to be on the other side, watching him score 200 runs. When he is tired and can’t play the big shots, he was very clever to use the pace of the bowler and it’s very difficult for the bowlers as they don’t know where exactly to bowl.”India lost Virender Sehwag early, and Tendulkar was assisted in three sizable stands where runs came at a brisk pace, with Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf and Dhoni. “Once Viru got out, it was important to get some kind of a partnership going. They [Tendulkar and Karthik] went on with their innings, and they set a platform after which we were sure we would get 350-plus which would be a difficult target,” Dhoni said. “Yusuf was sent up the order and with the talent he’s got, he can be a great asset to the side.”Yusuf scored a quickfire 36 and was particularly lethal during the batting Powerplay, while Dhoni proved destructive at the death, bludgeoning 68 off 35 in a century-stand with Tendulkar in just 53 balls. “I have changed my batting a bit, but the situation demanded that kind [attacking] of innings,” Dhoni said. “The ground is a small one, and we were a bit worried about the dew factor. But once they lost 3-4 early wickets, it was difficult for them to get back into the game.”For South Africa and their stand-in captain Jacques Kallis, it was a case of the basics gone wrong. “The toss was quite vital. Our basics were just weren’t good enough today. We were outplayed,” Kallis said. “We lost wickets at crucial stages, our basics let us down. A fantastic innings by Sachin; he took advantage of some good conditions and he played superbly. We let ourselves down in some areas.”

Indian news broadcasters will cover the IPL after all, with the IPL and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) resolving the dispute regarding tournament footage

Cricinfo staff12-Mar-2010Indian news broadcasters will cover the IPL after all, with the tournament organisers and the News Broadcasters’ Association (NBA) resolving the dispute regarding tournament footage. Lalit Modi confirmed the development on the eve of the third season of the IPL in his Twitter page. Further details on the compromise are still awaited.”NBA issue resolved. News broadcasters will carry IPL news,” Modi wrote. “Both us moved forward to ensure all fans don’t miss the IPL. My sincere thanks to the NBA members for making it happen.”The NBA, which has 34-member channels, had last month decided to boycott the tournament in protest against what it called “arbitrary” guidelines and contentious clauses regarding tournament footage. The decision followed a meeting between the NBA and officials of the IPL and Set Max, the tournament rights holder. The media coverage guidelines for 2010 had reduced the duration of match footage that news channels could carry — 30 seconds per bulletin and seven minutes a day. Repeats would be allowed three times a day, as against four previously, and while match footage could earlier be telecast with a five-minute delay from the end of the live telecast, it had been expanded to a half-hour delay.The first IPL season was boycotted by the international news agencies over several contentious clauses in the media accreditation guidelines, including a bar on supplying photographs to cricket-specific websites such as Cricinfo.The second season witnessed a repeat after News Media Coalition, the umbrella body that includes global news and photograph agencies Reuters, AP, AFP and Getty Images, objected over the same clause. However, the boycott was lifted after the IPL removed the clause from the terms of coverage.

Plays of the Day for the 17th match, between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium

Cricinfo staff22-Mar-2010Fumbling times for Tare
Twice in the first over of the match, Aditya Tare failed to collect the ball cleanly. On both occasions the ball arrived at a slower pace than the Mumbai glove-man would’ve expected, but both times Tare was besides the line of the delivery instead of lining himself behind. He continued to fumble frequently, adding to the bowlers’ and Sachin Tendulkar’s frustration. Three overs before the Kolkata innings came to an end, Ryan McLaren’s attempted yorker to Owais Shah went wide, but Tare was once again was slow off his haunches, and his dive came late as the opposition picked a few more extras.Simon says not out
Dwayne Bravo picked a return ball from Chris Gayle and immediatlely threw at the stumps, finding the Jamaican halfway down the pitch. But Gayle, having been sent back by Sourav Ganguly, charged back home to beat Bravo’s direct throw in the nick of time. Simon Taufel, the square-leg umpire, did the right thing to re-arrange the bails and avoid cutting the rhythm of the match, even if the entire Mumbai team pleaded him to refer the decision to the third umpire.Bravo, bravo
After his first over in the second spell went for 13 runs, Bravo, before passing the ball to the captain, bounced it hard on the pitch in disgust but the rebound came back swiftly to hit him flush on the face. Bravo didn’t wince, and the consummate cricketer that he is, was furious at himself for leaking runs.“Sky is your limit”, Dinda to Gayle
During the batting time out taken by Kolkata, 12th man Ashok Dinda rushed into the field, along with Dav Whatmore. As the Kolkata coach got busy with Owais Shah, Dinda threw the towel to Gayle and started pointing towards the top tier of the CCI pavilion, inspiring the West Indian to hit over the sky. Though the distance was within manageable limits for the 6’4″ tall West Indian, it was a big challenge considering the Mumbai bowlers were firing yorker-length deliveries at him consistently; in the end Dinda’s demands went unfulfilled.Hazare presses the panic button
On the final delivery of the Kolkata innings, Zaheer Khan fired in a searing inswinging yorker against Gayle. Gayle had moved a step down the legside when the ball hit him on the toe of his back leg, which was easily half a yard, if not a full one, down the leg side. But the umpire Sanjay Hazare, reluctant initially, finally raised his finger after Zaheer started to appeal incessantly.Kartik goes blind, makes Dada angry
Murali Kartik, Kolkata’s best bowler, made an impact immediately by picking a wicket in his first over. And in the following over, he nearly snatched the prized wicket of Tendulkar, as the Mumbai captain’s leading edge flew back towards Kartik. However, Kartik failed to sight the ball at all and came up with a late attempt which proved to be unsatisfactory. Ganguly, standing at cover shrieked at his bowler knowing well it would be the most important turning point of the match as Tendulkar was on 41 and the match still hung in the balance.Ganguly gives extra workouts
Throughout the Mumbai innings bowlers argued with Ganguly about the fields he was setting. One fine example was when Angelo Mathews pushed Shane Bond back towards the third man and positioned Owais Shah at short-fine leg. The very next instant, Ganguly got Bond inside the circle while sending Shah towards fine leg. Mathews argued strongly, waving his hands, forcing Ganguly to reverse his decision. Ganguly’s indecisiveness only added to the workload of his fielders.

Sind Dolphins, buoyed by half-centuries from Shahzaib Hasan and Asad Shafiq, raced to their second consecutive win of the Pentangular One Day Cup

Cricinfo staff23-Apr-2010
Scorecard
Sind Dolphins, buoyed by half-centuries from Shahzaib Hasan and Asad Shafiq, raced to their second consecutive win of the Pentangular One Day Cup and consequently inflicted a second defeat in as many games on Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Panthers in Karachi. The top order made the victory possible for the Dolphins, with openers Khurram Manzoor and Shahzaib added 100. Asad then combined with Shahzaib to push the score to 144, and backed up by small, yet important, contributions from those who followed, the Dolphins overhauled a target of 251 with 31 balls to spare.For the Panthers, Rafatullah Mohmand starred with 90 at the top of the order to take them to a competitive score, and he was supported by Adnan Raees, Zohaib Khan and Yasir Shah. Azam Hussain picked up 2 for 37, and played a significant role in ensuring the Panthers were kept to a score that his team could chase down.

After encouraging signs and a cricket-filled 2009, the women once again join the men at the World Twenty20 – a tournament that will be another test of the sustainability of the women’s game

Nishi Narayanan04-May-2010The women once again join the men at the World Twenty20 after encouraging signs and a cricket-filled 2009. Like last year, the semis and finals for men and women will be played on the same day at the same venues. While it’s not likely that there will be full houses for the curtain-raisers (the women’s matches played ahead of the men’s), the international women’s teams will have the chance to wow a new audience.Only England and Sri Lanka have toured the West Indies before and both have played there within the last 12 months. But in Twenty20, familiarity with the conditions hardly gives an edge over the opponents. However defending champions England remain favourites because of their strong batting line-up.On the whole, the tournament will be another test of the sustainability of the women’s game. After last year’s World Cups, England, the defending champions in ODIs and Twenty20, travelled extensively and they remain favourites. After beating Australia 4-0 in ODIs at home in June-July, England went to West Indies in November and lost both the one-day and Twenty20 series 2-1. Then earlier this year, they visited India where they won the ODIs and the Twenty20 series. Australia and New Zealand played the Rose Bowl Series in February 2010 – New Zealand won the two Twenty20s and Australia won the three ODIs. Pakistan and South Africa have not played any internationals since the World Twenty20 last year.

Australia

Their experienced captain Karen Rolton retired in January this year and the squad is further weakened by the absence of wicketkeeper Jodie Fields. Captain Alex Blackwell is leading a fairly young and inexperienced side, barring the 33-year-old batting mainstay Shelley Nitschke.Watch out for: Alyssa Healy, the niece of former Australian keeper Ian Healy, who has replaced Fields in the side. Healy won the Rising Star award for New South Wales in March this year.

England

No such worries for England who welcome back their openers Claire and Sarah Taylor, and spinner Holly Colvin who missed the India tour. They have also won their two warm-ups – against India and Sri Lanka – with ease and look virtually unstoppable.Watch out for: Claire Taylor, with whose return England look indomitable. She is expected to top the run-scoring charts with ease.

India

Though their previous two campaigns – in Australia and England – were disappointing, India looked a better side during their home series against England. Their main batsman Mithali Raj is in form and they have a few hitters down the order. But they’ll have to play out of their skins to overcome New Zealand and England.Watch out for: Left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana who took 18 wickets (12 in 15 ODIs and six in three Twenty20s) against England in February-March. She flights the ball well, gets good turn and can slip in a few quicker ones to trouble batsmen on the slow West Indies wickets.

New Zealand

Two World Cup finals in three months and two defeats will be stinging New Zealand badly. It’s more a question of settling the nerves than of developing strategies for this talented side.Watch out for: Lucy Doolan bowls offspin and is a useful batsman in a sticky situation. In a line-up of big hitters, Doolan sneaks in the quick singles and twos.

Pakistan

With no proper matches since June last year, it is hard to say how Pakistan will do in the tournament. They surprised everybody with a sixth place finish in the 50-over World Cup last year and have already beaten West Indies in a warm-up game in St Kitts. Pakistan will be aiming for fifth place this time.Watch out for: Urooj Mumtaz who took 2 for 14 in the warm-up match against West Indies, can choke the runs with her legbreaks.

South Africa

Unlike Pakistan, South Africa have shown few signs that they will grow out of their minnow status any time soon. Their best hope is to avoid a last-place finish.Watch out for: Cri-zelda Brits has propped up South Africa’s batting line-up for more than two years now. Trisha Chetty’s unbeaten 65 off 54 balls against India in the warm-up was another encouraging sign for the side.

Sri Lanka

They lost to West Indies in the bilateral series preceding this tournament but can challenge them in Twenty20s. The battle for fifth place will be between West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.Watch out for: Opening batsman Dedunu Silva can score quickly and give her side a solid platform to build on.

West Indies

Like Pakistan, West Indies have surprised their opponents from time to time and have some aggressive batsmen in their line-up. Even if home advantage means little, they’ll have the home support and will be eager to make it to the semis. But since they are grouped with Australia and England, it looks unlikely.Watch out for: Stafanie Taylor, an explosive top-order batsman who top-scored in the three-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka last month. She scored a half-century in each game and piled up 162 runs, 101 more than the next highest run-getter.

CB Ratnayake retained Somachandra de Silva and Nishantha Ranatunga as chairman and secretary respectively while appointing three new members to the committee

Sa'adi Thawfeeq02-Jun-2010Sports Minister CB Ratnayake, despite accusing Sri Lanka Cricket as the third most corrupt institution in the country and slamming the board’s interim committee, retained Somachandra de Silva and Nishantha Ranatunga as chairman and secretary respectively while appointing three new members to the committee on Wednesday.Former cricketer and Sri Lanka rugby player Asanga Seneviratne, lawyer Kalinga Indratissa and Sports Ministry representative Prabath Fonseka are the three new members appointed. They replace Pramodya Wickramasinghe, A. Gunaratne Weerasinghe, Lalith Wickremasinghe and Ranil Abeynaike. Sujeewa Rajapakse continues as treasurer of the six-member interim committee.Ratnayake, who appointed Aravinda de Silva as the head of a new selection panel, in a media conference on Monday, had promised to revamp the way the game is administered, even if it meant replacing the incumbent members. Ratnayake had said he had a problem with the way the interim committee had handled finances and contributed to wastage of resources.