de Mel's comments spurred the team - Atapattu

Marvan Atapattu has admitted that the critical comments made by Ashantha de Mel, Sri Lanka¹s selection chief, spurred his team on during their Paktel Cup final victory against Pakistan.

"That can be one reason for our performance. It was a big motivation factor for us to show everyone what we are capable of," Atapattu said after his team¹s emphatic 119-run victory. "But the guys were very keen to do well, and we play to win anything around the world. We don't go on the park to lose." But Atapattu refused to be drawn into a public slanging match with de Mel, although he was obviously angered by the comments.

de Mel had earlier launched a surprise attack in the media last week, as he accused Sri Lanka¹s team management of holding back the development of young players and he labelled the senior players as selfish, suggesting they were more concerned about their own averages than the team's long-term health.

"It has come to a stage that the selection committee felt that we have to reduce some of the options in order to get the team management to play them," said de Mel, referring to the lack of chances for the young players. "We send the youngsters saying that we are going to groom them, but they are never given a chance to play on the tour. They come back and by the next tour they are left out.

"We sent [Thilina] Kandamby on the Pakistan tour to get some sort of exposure internationally, but unfortunately he has not been given a chance to play even against a weak opposition like Zimbabwe.

"If Kandamby, for instance, was promoted up in the order and was given to bat at No. 3 like they did with [Tillakaratne] Dilshan against Zimbabwe, we may have got a chance to see what his potential is. He has shown potential at A-team level and in the domestic tournaments but we need to find out for ourselves whether he actually has it in him to make it to the top, whether he is worth investing for the future. The same applies to the other young players as well."

de Mel insisted that the inexperienced players needed to be given opportunities against lesser teams to allow them to gain exposure. Otherwise, he warned, Sri Lankan cricket would go the way of the West Indian team, with the senior players retiring, and the next lot not being good enough to fill in.