Marvan Atapattu was right when he said that the selectors were ‘a bunch of jokers’. They seem to have no plan, no vision and even lack sense. We have seen howlers after howlers in the ongoing tri-nation series that involves India and Bangladesh and what’s more they also lie.

When the selectors called for a media briefing with the national team captain and the coach in attendance ahead of the tri-nation series in Bangladesh, they promised the media a few things. One was that this series was an opportunity to try out a few young players and the other was that they wouldn’t play Thilan Samaraweera and Thilina Kandamby in the same game, they broke all promises.

The blooding in of some young players in recent times was not done with any foresight; it was done as the selectors had no other options.

The Randivs, Welagedaras and Pereras wouldn’t have got a look in had not there been injuries. They got a look in only due to injuries to leading players.

In this series, first the selectors blundered by not sending in a third opener. Then Tillekeratne Dilshan and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara got injured. Obviously they should have sent an opener and a spinner as replacements, but you could get a hint on Ashantha de Mel and his committee’s cricketing sense when they opted for two specialist openers as replacements. Then what do they do? They opt to open with Mahela Jayawardene a middle order batsman making Mahela Udawatte and Dinesh Chandimal, the openers sent in as replacements to sit out the game.

Sri Lanka were through to the final with a game to spare. For the dead rubber against India yesterday, we thought that the selectors would give a game to some of these young players. Upul Tharanga was in good nick and so was Thilan Samaraweera. Ideally they should have taken a break. But both played and still there was no game for the rookies. Did the selectors say that they were going to try out a few new faces in this series?

Take the case of Udawatte. What more should he do to get a game. He was the second highest scorer in the domestic one-day tournament. Last year when Pakistan were here, he scored 161 in a warm up one-day game in Kurunegala, but was overlooked for the first ODI that started a few days later. A similar effort by Jehan Mubarak, the blue eyed boy of the selectors, would have elevated him to the vice-captain’s post of the national team. He’s not the only favourite of the selectors; they have also equally promoted Dilhara Fernando, both hopeless match losers. Another favourite of the current selectors is Sanath Jayasuriya, who shares the same age as one of the selectors.

The media who report on cricket will have to think twice when the selectors call them for a briefing again for they hardly do anything that they promise.

One is struggling to understand the logic behind not playing Chandimal, Udawatte or Lahiru Thirimanne for the dead rubber. Why couldn’t the selectors take a stance and insist that one of the seniors had to sit out. Are the selectors a weak lot who are dancing to the tunes of one or two senior players?

De Mel has been in the selection panel for the best part of the last decade except for a couple of years when the UNP government was in power from 2002-2004. Also remember that Mahinda Rajapakse became the President in 2005 December and de Mel became the Chairman of Selectors six months later. We would like to think that de Mel is Sri Lanka’s Chairman of Selectors for his cricketing skills and knowledge, not because his friendship with the President or his alleged kinship to the first lady.

Since the 2007 World Cup, Sri Lanka have performed poorly in ODI cricket and currently are ranked number seven, only behind Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe. We are sure some selectors even don’t know that (De Mel could be one of them).

The Sri Lankan team looked like getting back to winning ways when they won three successive games in Bangladesh and even the board and the coaching staff of SLC admitted that the emergence of young players and the bench strength has helped Sri Lanka to make the turn around.

The selectors denied themselves a golden opportunity to take a look at new faces in the dead rubber yesterday. Instead they went back on promises, played the old lot and emerged liars.