It’s as if Sri Lankan cricket hit rock bottom due to De Mel’s blunders. For record’s sake, he was also Chairman of Selectors when Sri Lanka whitewashed England in their own backyard 5-0 in 2006. During his tenure, the national cricket team won Test matches in Pakistan, New Zealand, England, West Indies and South Africa. So as our batting crumbled against England, all blame was placed on De Mel’s doorstep. De Mel’s other biggest fault was giving in to political pressure and accommodating that ‘three dimensional’ cricketer Jeevan Mendis into the World Cup squad in 2019.

Source: The Nation January 29, 2021 00:00 UTC