Ashantha de Mel

Ashantha de Mel
Personal information
Full name	Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel
Born	9 May 1959 (age 64); Colombo
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium-fast
International information
National side	Sri Lanka (1982–1987);
Test debut (cap 1)	17 February 1982 v England
Last Test	17 December 1986 v India
ODI debut (cap 20)	13 February 1982 v England
Last ODI	30 October 1987 v England
Career statistics
	Source: ESPNcricinfo, 31 July 2015

Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel (born 9 May 1959) is a former

pace, and he was also said to have the ability to get the ball to swing out

.

In November 2018, he was named as the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket's National Selection Panel. He previously served in the role in 2012.^[2]

International career

He only played one Test match outside the Indian subcontinent, which may explain why his Test average is so high, as conditions there are generally not thought suitable for swing bowlers. He often made small contributions with the bat, and only made ducks three times.

He was educated at

Royal College Colombo

.

1983 cricket World Cup

His finest moment as a bowler arguably came at the

England was actually taken by de Mel, but the scorecards still don't reflect that.^{[citation needed}

]

1985 against India

After this, he usually put in solid performances, but the closest he came to the 1983 heroics was in a 1985 Test with

India. The visitors had chosen to bat, but de Mel ran through the middle order, getting players like Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar

out, and finishing with five for 64. Sri Lanka led by 129 runs on first innings, but de Mel failed to take a wicket in the second innings as India drew the match.

After cricket

His career was ended in 1987 due to a knee injury, but he continued within the Sri Lankan cricket system, and in May 2004 he was appointed head of selectors in Sri Lanka. That lasted for one year, whereupon he was sacked, only one month after the sports minister Jeewan Kumaranatunga had announced that he would be retained for another year. de Mel has also played bridge, appearing in the Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championships playing this sport.

De Mel went on to become the

chairman of the Selection Committee, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which was responsible for selecting players for matches and tours. He was also the chairman of the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation

.

References

^ "Packer's revolution". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
^ "Sri Lanka Cricket announce new selection panel". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 25 November 2018.

External links

Ashantha de Mel at ESPNcricinfo

[first-1] "Packer's revolution". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 May 2017.

[2] "Sri Lanka Cricket announce new selection panel". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 25 November 2018.

[2]