Jayasuriya defends minister’s son

Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors, has justified the selection of a minister’s son in the national squad for the one-off Twenty20 against Bangladesh, after his panel attracted sharp criticism in some parts of the local media. Allrounder Ramith Rambukwella, is the son of media and information minister Keheliya Rambukwella, reports Cricinfo.
“Ramith is a left-hand batsman who bowls right arm offspin, who can clear the boundaries and can hit hard,” Jayasuriya said. “He’s someone who can play Twenty20 cricket in the middle order, and you need players like that in this format. We’re bringing him on as a batting allrounder who can bowl offspin.”
Rambukwella, 21, has played club cricket since 2011, but has hit only two half-centuries in 28 innings, across all formats. He has scored 135 runs at an average of 16.87 in List A games and 122 at 17.42 in T20s. He has been more successful with the ball, having taken 10 wickets at an average of 23.60 in List A and eight wickets in T20s at an economy-rate of 7.28. He developed his reputation for big hitting during a successful school cricket career, during which he played for Royal College in Colombo.
“We don’t just bring in players who perform, we also bring in players with talent,” Jayasuriya said. “There are plenty of players who haven’t performed that well in club matches, but have played well in internationals. I’ve seen a lot of players like that.
“I’m not saying you can get picked even if you don’t bat well in domestic cricket, I’m saying if you are talented, or you’ve made runs in the past, we will give those players an opportunity. We will consider any player. They don’t just have to be under 23, even 28 to 30-year olds are considered, and we will try to take those players to the place they need to go.” Whatever happens on Sunday night, Sri Lanka will look back on this tour and feel it has not gone as they would have liked. Bangladesh had never taken a Test to the fifth day in Sri Lanka, but they bettered even that achievement by keeping the hosts to a draw. Sri Lanka were made to fight hard in the second Test, and though they triumphed handsomely there in the end, they were embarrassed in the ODI series, when Bangladesh stormed home in Pallekele. Sri Lanka may have been missing Mahela Jayawardene, who has made home series a specialty, but Bangladesh have been without their star player in Shakib Al Hasan throughout the tour, and lost Tamim Iqbal after the first ODI.