Jayasuriya’s politics no issue for selectors

Chairman of national cricket selection committee Asantha de Mel is firmly of the view that the reported entrance into party politics by former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya will be an issue the player concerned has to grapple with and his selection to the team will hinge on form and fitness as it is with all players.
Veteran left-handed opener Jayasuriya who is no longer active in Test cricket but plays only ODI and T20 cricket is set to contest the April 8 general election on the UPFA ticket from his home-town of Matara.
De Mel affirmed the topic of whether it is right or wrong for Jayasiriya to ply his trade while continuing to be an MP has to be sorted out between the player concerned and the game’s local ruling body - Sri Lanka Cricket - and that their job primarily as selectors was to choose players based on their current form and fitness.
Asked whether such a decision made by Jayasuriya could lead to a precedent in the future where active cricketers could get mired in mainstream party politics, de Mel refused to answer stating that he was no pundit on it to pass judgment, and stressed that it was solely a matter which the SLC has to handle in the long-term.
The 40-year-old Jayasuriya was discarded from the Sri Lanka national ODI team which toured India last December, but has constantly maintained that he has no plans of calling time on his chequered international cricket career at least till the end of the next ICC World Cup in 2011.
Jayasuriya’s prolific international cricket career began in 1989 and has evolved through 110 Tests and a world record 444 one-day internationals. - (JK)