Sri Lanka in selection chaos over South Africa tour squad

Sri Lanka's selectors, captain Sanath Jayasuriya and sports minister Johnston Fernando have become embroiled in a selection dispute over the squad picked for the forthcoming Sri Lanka tour of South Africa.

A three-man selection panel headed by Guy de Alwis, in consultation with Jayasuriya, coach Dav Whatmore and strategic consultant Duleep Mendis, had picked a young 16-man squad last week for the two-Test tour.

However, the sports minister has refused to ratify the squad after a direct personal plea from Jayasuriya that uncapped 20-year fast bowling all-rounder Kaushalya Weeraratne be included.

The minister sent a letter to de Alwis on Wednesday, asking his panel to "reconsider" their selection. De Alwis replied, categorically refusing to change their 16-man party, the names of which had already been released in the media.

"We will not change the 16 that we have picked," confirmed de Alwis to CricInfo on Thursday. "It could kill youngsters to drop them now. We will have to see if a compromise can be reached but all the 16 are going to South Africa."

De Alwis reacted angrily to suggestions that Jayasuriya had not been properly consulted: "Next time we have a selection committee meeting I will be taking a video camera so that no-one can say he was not properly consulted - Sanath Jayasuriya was at the meeting."

He added: "As a panel we have a simple policy: the people who perform will get a chance. Those that have been picked performed well during the recent A tour to Pakistan."

So far there has no reply from the minister and an air of uncertainly hangs over the team's preparations, which have already started in Colombo. The selected 16 are training alongside a handful of unnamed additional players.

Team manager Air Commodore Ajit Jayasekera confirmed today that he was in the dark, anxiously awaiting clearance of the final squad so that he can complete all the necessary logistical arrangements in time.

This is not the first time this year that the selection process has been reduced to near farce.

In January, a threatened team revolt over the "resting" of vice-captain Marvan Atapattu on the eve of the second Test against Zimbabwe forced the minister to overrule the selection committee.

There were then smoldering disputes over selection for the NatWest one-day series in England and then an open disagreement over the selector's decision to rest key players for the Bangladesh Test series last July.