Chamika under fire after chief selector opens can of worms

By Rex Clementine

Promising all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne will not be considered for selection for a considerable period of time after Chairman of Selectors Pramodaya Wickremesinghe in an e-mail to SLC Secretary Mohan de Silva made a scathing attack on the player.

The mail is circulating in social media and was confirmed yesterday to be authentic and raises serious questions about the national cricket team’s conduct in Australia during the ICC Men’s T-20 World Cup where the former champions’ off the field activities received more attention than their on-field performances.

Team Manager Mahinda Halangoda was brought in for the job as he was known as a strict disciplinarian. Not many during their playing days took on Arjuna Ranatunga, but Halangoda was an exception having stood his ground and not given in to Arjuna during their SSC days. It is believed that Halangoda’s wings were clipped during the World Cup campaign and he may have been told to turn a blind eye to breach of discipline by influential individuals.

Wickremesinghe in his mail says, “I observed that his (Chamika) commitment towards training sessions was fast receding contrary to the high standards he maintained a few months ago.”

“I believe the reason for all the above mentioned is that he is not totally focused on cricket, which is a significant change from his earlier commitment even considering the importance of the ICC World T20.”

“If I’m to continue with what I observed, the whole reason for this is that he was more interested in his distractive personal matters other than cricket.”

“At the conclusion of the Australian tour, I had a meeting with the National Coach pertaining to tour selections for the Afghanistan inbound tour of Sri Lanka. While names were being discussed, Chamika’s name was discussed in detail, the outcome of the meeting on Chamika’s selection was to leave him out from this tour as the National Coach has lost trust in him as Chamika has been exposed in not being truthful to the coach on multiple occasions. It was the opinion of the Coach that Chamika was not focused on his game.”

“Even during the T20 World Cup in Australia I  observed Chamika very closely, it was my observation  that wherever we travelled internally, he was more focused on meeting ladies of Sri Lankan origin who were domiciled in Australia. Further, I would like to place on record that he has missed some training sessions on tour mentioning that he was feeling unwell, however I have reason to believe that he had accommodated female companions at the hotel. (I would propose that a request is made to the hotel to provide CCTV footage on the said dates he did not attend training sessions),” adds Wickremesinghe in his mail.

“I was also told by the team Manager that during our stay in Sydney, a Sri Lankan gentleman had called and wanted to meet with Chamika mentioning that he had a problem to solve with Chamika. Thereafter the Manager refused to accommodate his request unless there was a meaningful reason to meet him, at that point the gentleman had mentioned that Chamika had been calling his wife and bothering her with indecent proposals and being a nuisance. Contacting this gentleman via the Team Manager, you may be able to find out more depth about the activities of Chamika, which he had mentioned that he had evidence of some grave malpractices involving Chamika.”

Karunaratne was fined US$ 5000 for being involved in a fight in a Brisbane casino and was handed a one year suspended sentence. Further, he had been fined 1000 Australian Dollars while on tour for his excesses. “I also got to know from the team manager that he had been lighting oil lamps and incense sticks in his hotel room which is totally against the hotel safety policy, It would have been a major disaster if the room caught on fire and this came to light from the housekeeping and despite being told by the team manager not to  leave the room without blowing out anything which has been lit with fire due to hotel rules. Despite the warning, he had repeated this, the day after having left the room with a “Do Not Disturb” sign outside his room and he was fined 1000 AUD by the team management.”

“The recent inappropriate behaviour by him and Dhanushka Gunathilaka. has hampered the team’s progress, unity and affected the mindset of our young national cricketers, who won the Asia Cup. We need to seriously address these issues and strict discipline has to be adhered to, ensuring these incidents will not happen again. A clear message has to be given to the team, that indiscipline will not be tolerated.”

Wickremesinghe ends his letter requesting SLC to send Karunaratne for counselling. “It is my view that Chamika be referred to Psychological counselling immediately prior to him taking part in any form of International Cricket as it would give this talented youngster, which we as selectors rate him highly for which he can bring to the table in the future for Sri Lankan Cricket.”