Provincial tournament serving the purpose, says chief selector

Sri Lanka's top and middle-order batsmen may have scored the required runs to beat England in the third and final Test at Colombo, but that has not stopped the national selectors from continuing their search for middle-order batsmen and spin bowlers.

The on-going TenSports provincial tournament is giving the selectors some food for thought. "This is a good concept and the cricket so far produced indicates that the tournament is coming almost to the top level as other countries," Lalith Kaluperuma, chairman of selectors, said. "The tournament was begun to bridge the gap that exists between club and national team cricketers. It is more or less serving the purpose.

"One of the positives to come out of the tournament is that it is giving the batsmen the opportunity to play long innings. Mahela Jayawardene, Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya have all made big scores," added Kaluperuma. "The batsmen have shown they have the stamina and fitness to play long innings in the middle.

"The pitches are also very good and the bowlers are learning to bowl to a proper line and length or they have to pay the penalty."

So far there have been two weekends of cricket, and all four matches have produced a winning result, including a world-record run chase by Central Province against Southern Province. The fact that all these games have gone the distance indicates that the players are getting used to the four-day game, which will hold them in good stead at Test level.

Kaluperuma has been following the progress of the Southern Province team, while his three colleagues in the selection committee are doing the same with the other four teams in the competition.

Aravinda de Silva is responsible for Western Province, Ashley de Silva for North Central Province and Roger Wijesuriya for Central Province. Kaluperuma said that Uva Province is handled by its coach Champaka Ramanayake, who is a member of the junior selection committee: "After every match we get a feedback from the management of each team which includes the captain, coach and the manager."

Kaluperuma said that the selection committee was awaiting the arrival of John Dyson, the national coach, before deciding to pick the pool and the captains for the Test and one-day series against Australia next month. "It has to be a collective decision and John must be present before we arrive at any decision," said Kaluperuma. Dyson, who succeeded Dav Whatmore as head coach, returned to Sydney for a short holiday at the end of the England series, which was his first assignment as coach. Sri Lanka beat England in the one-day and Test series1-0.