Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Executive Committee decided on Saturday to sack Sri Lanka team manager Charith Senanayake from his position with immediate effect and appoint former cricketer Michael de Zoysa in his place.
SLC President Upali Dharmadasa confirmed that the Ex-Co has taken the decision, but said he cannot give more details as yet. Though De Zoysa has been approved by the Ex-Co, De Zoysa has still not accepted the position as he is yet to consult his present employer, Dharmadasa added.
Senanayake said he is yet to receive official intimation about the decision, but confirmed that he was informed of the decision at a personal level by several SLC Ex-Co members.
“I felt this was coming as I had been asked to give explanation before this Ex-Co meeting for writing directly to media while we were on the Australian tour” said Senanayake who was appointed in January last year.
“I think, more than anything else, it’s personal and I’ve been systematically victimized. It’s a personal agenda against me. I have to take stock of the situation and think again what future holds for me in this country” added Senanayake.
“This is the second time this happened to me. Earlier when I was removed as Head of Marketing at SLC, I was given no explanation. But this time I am going to ask them to give me the reason for my removal” said Senanayake.
Senanayake took over the post from former Sri Lanka skipper Anura Tennekoon.
This was the second time Senanayake held the position having first taken the job in 2008.
Senanayake 50, played three Tests against New Zealand on the 1991 tour, and seven ODIS in 1990 and 91 with moderate success.
Senanayake who is also a Marketing expert served Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) as the Head of Marketing for three years from 2008 to 2011 but had to leave when the interim committee headed by D.S. de Silva did not renew his contract.
Senanayake had pointed out the lack of experience of the Singapore based Somerset Entertainment Ventures and had evaluated it as a company with a questionable background after doing research on the controversial company’s profile before the SLC struck a controversial deal with them for the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL).
Senanayake wrote directly to the ‘Daily Mirror’ on December 20 last year and forwarded a letter from the then Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene who claimed that he has “lost all confidence in dealing with SLC in the future” after a confidential document he had handed over to SLC was published in the ‘Daily Mirror’.
SLC immediately issued a media statement and claimed that both Jayawardene and Senanayake had breached their contract terms and the matter would be taken up at the SLC Ex-Co.
However, an SLC Ex-Co member who spoke to ‘Daily Mirror’ on condition of anonymity said that there were several charges against Senanayake, in addition to the letter in question.
“Some players were not happy with the way he treated them. There were complaints that he often used very bad language. There were also charges of negligence of his duties” said the Ex-Co member.
“We have been reported that there was no Sri Lanka cap to be presented to the new boy Kusal Janith Perera when he made his debut during the Australian tour. It is also reported that there was a shortage of jerseys. Logistics are a basic duty of the manager. When someone neglects things like that, we obviously have to take tough decisions” he added.
The Ex-Co member added that Senanayake in his manager’s report after the Australian tour had made a strange suggestion to provide luxury apartments to players instead of the usual hotel rooms during future overseas tours, as the families of players accompany them on tour.
SLC has spent more than Rs. four million alone to send the families of players on the December/January Australian tour.
“There are one or two players who like him for various personal reasons. But the fact is that most of the players have informed us that they don’t want him” said the Ex-Co member.
Meanwhile the initial signs of a repetition of previous year’s “sweeping changes” in the Sri Lanka team’s set up became evident at Saturday’s Ex-Co meeting when several other heads in the Sri Lanka support staff also rolled together with Senanayake’s.
Most prominent among them is Sri Lanka team’s fast bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake. SLC Ex-Co has decided to terminate Ramanayake’s contract immediately and are likely to replace him with Chaminda Vaas.
However Vaas’ appointment has not been approved as the Ex-Co had felt the salary he had demanded was a bit too high. “He has asked for something close to Rs. one million a month in negotiations with us, which the Ex-Co felt was beyond SLC’s affordability.
“He has been the best pace bowler this country ever produced and he proved that he is a fantastic coach when he took the best out of New Zealand bowlers during their tour here last year. He will be a real asset to the Sri Lanka team if we can get him on board” said the Ex-Co member.
Ramanayake who is currently paid Rs. 480,000 a month will not however lose his job and will join the SLC fast bowling academy.
“We did well in the shorter formats in the just finished Australia tour clearly because our pace bowlers performed magnificently. This is the reward Ramanayake gets for that. Last year, we registered our first Test victory in South Africa and when we returned coach Geoff Marsh was sacked. It is the SLC way. We are certainly heading for disaster with this kind of decision making” a player who did not want to be named told ‘Daily Mirror’ yesterday.
Meanwhile batting coach Marvan Atapattu has been promoted to be Assistant Coach of the Sri Lanka team, in addition to the former Sri Lanka captain’s current role.
SLC Ex-Co has also decided to end the term of Chandra Rodrigo as the Sri Lanka team’s liaison officer during in-bound tours. They have decided to appoint former Matara cricketer S.M. Faumy for the position for the forthcoming Bangladesh tour.
“We decided to give an opportunity for several individuals on a rotation basis to hold this position” said the Ex-Co member.
A source said that Rodrigo was one official who had lobbied for a payment of support staff from Players’ guarantee money. It was this issue which later developed into a major controversy and also fallout between former captain Jayawardene and the SLC. Senanayake’s exit also may have been hastened due to this issue.
Chitral Mendis has been appointed the liaison officer of the Bangladesh team.
SLC has also decided to appoint Jayantha Seneviratne as the Sri Lanka Emerging Team (Earlier Sri Lanka A Team) Manager on a full time basis.
Sri Lanka team’s trainer Mario Villavarayen has also been removed by the SLC Ex-Co and has appointed Darshana Weerasinghe to replace him.
(Channaka de Silva)
