Moody denies lodging complaint

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka's coach, has denied lodging an official complaint to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after being publicly criticised by Ashantha de Mel, the new chairman of selectors, just days before the first Test against England. de Mel, a former Sri Lanka fast bowler, followed his appointment on Friday with a stinging interview in The Sunday Island, blaming Moody for Sri Lanka's slide down the ICC's official ODI and Test rankings.

"We were number two in the world rankings when John Dyson was coach and since Tom Moody took over last year we have slipped to number six," he said. "I wonder whether Tom is the right candidate. He's basically a coach who speaks of strategy. If we take John Dyson he was very professional. As chairman of selectors I had a lot of arguments and disagreements with him but he provided the results. You've got to face the fact that during John's time we were number two in the world."

de Mel also accused the previous selection chairman, Lalith Kaluperuma, of forcing Sanath Jayasuriya into retirement and hinted at his possible recall. "Sri Lanka now has two inexperienced openers in Upul Tharanga and Michael Vandort and any bowling attack would love to bowl at them instead of Jayasuriya. If these guys don't do well in the first Test it's prudent to send Sanath to play the remainder of the series. He's a proven player and still has a lot of cricket in him."

It had been reported that Moody telephoned a top official in SLC on Monday and expressed his dismay that de Mel should publicly undermine his role and the confidence of young players in the lead-up to a difficult Test series. "I've lodged nothing," Moody told AFP at Lord's. "I've heard what you heard, a quote about the retirement of Sanath Jayasuriya. As far as we're concerned, I had a conversation with the chairman of selectors this morning and it didn't even come into the conversation."

However Moody admitted the controversy was not the most helpful way of preparing for a Test match. "It's not ideal but it's certainly something you tend to become a bit immune to. There are various challenge you face and this is just yet another one. But our guys are pretty focused." The telephone conversation was followed by a two-and-a-half hour meeting between SLC officials and de Mel on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the first meeting of the new panel was described as "stormy" by the Daily News, the country's state-run newspaper. According to the article, the panel (reduced to three persons because Amal Silva was in China) disagreed on several issues and that the sports minister later called de Mel to reprimand him for his behaviour.

The controversy has sparked speculation that the sports minister is now set to appoint a fifth selector - Mahesh Gunatillake or Jayanda Warnaweera, according to the Daily News - to ensure de Mel does not having casting vote power in every meeting where one other selector is not present.

de Mel is no stranger to controversy. During his last tenure in 2004-05 as selection chairman, he incensed Marvan Atapattu and John Dyson, the then captain and coach, when he publicly criticised the team management of blocking the blooding of young players just before the final of a tri-series in Pakistan and then axed Tillakaratne Dilshan without consultation prior to the subsequent Test series.