Pata
05-28-2007, 10:54 AM
By Namal Pathirage
In a shocking development of Sri Lanka's quality of cricket umpiring, most of the country's top umpires have failed to get through a written examination conducted for umpires to pick Sri Lanka's representative at the International Cricket Council's elite panel of international umpires, sources said.
Sri Lanka's most prominent umpires Asoka de Silva and Gamini Silva, the two officials who are in the ICC's international panel, and three other international level umpires Ranmore Martinesz, Gartien Liyanage and Jagath Nandakumara are among the most notable candidates who have failed the exam.
Interestingly 26 of the country's 28 First Class umpires had sat the exam but only five candidates have been successful in a damning indictment of the country's standard of umpiring.
Another high profile figure to have failed the exam is Ken de Alwis, a former first class player and a member of the tournament committee of Sri Lanka Cricket. De Alwis was hurriedly inducted recently as a top level umpire. Prominent TV and radio cricket commentator Sena Nandiweera is also among the failed candidates.
While several high profile umpires earned embarrassing failures at the exam, Dilshan de Silva who is the secretary of the Cricket Umpires Association of Sri Lanka applied for the exam as a first class umpire but had left the exam hall without sitting for the exam on the exam day, sources added.
The five umpires who have got through the exam successfully are Tyronne Wijewardena, R. Kottahachchi, D. Gunawardena, Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Nandana.
The two ICC umpires Asoka de Silva and Gamini Silva had failed written exams on an earlier occasion as well.
The exam would also serve as the criteria for ranking Sri Lankan domestic umpires while three of the five successful candidates would be nominated by Sri Lanka cricket to the ICC panel.
Meanwhile, a majority of candidates had protested that the exam was held only in English and not in Sinhala. Some umpires boycotted the exam and left the exam hall without sitting for the exam as a mark of protest.
At a recent meeting of the Sri Lanka Cricket umpires committee, some umpires blamed the authorities for not conducting the exams in the Sinhala medium.
However the SLC umpires committee officials had pointed out that it was not practical to hold the exam in Sinhala as those who would be selected for the ICC panel will obviously have to work in English on an international level.
Meanwhile a group of umpires who had failed the exam had made a request to Sri Lanka Cricket to disregard the results of the exam and nominate umpires to the ICC panel only based on the current rankings of the domestic first class umpires.
In a shocking development of Sri Lanka's quality of cricket umpiring, most of the country's top umpires have failed to get through a written examination conducted for umpires to pick Sri Lanka's representative at the International Cricket Council's elite panel of international umpires, sources said.
Sri Lanka's most prominent umpires Asoka de Silva and Gamini Silva, the two officials who are in the ICC's international panel, and three other international level umpires Ranmore Martinesz, Gartien Liyanage and Jagath Nandakumara are among the most notable candidates who have failed the exam.
Interestingly 26 of the country's 28 First Class umpires had sat the exam but only five candidates have been successful in a damning indictment of the country's standard of umpiring.
Another high profile figure to have failed the exam is Ken de Alwis, a former first class player and a member of the tournament committee of Sri Lanka Cricket. De Alwis was hurriedly inducted recently as a top level umpire. Prominent TV and radio cricket commentator Sena Nandiweera is also among the failed candidates.
While several high profile umpires earned embarrassing failures at the exam, Dilshan de Silva who is the secretary of the Cricket Umpires Association of Sri Lanka applied for the exam as a first class umpire but had left the exam hall without sitting for the exam on the exam day, sources added.
The five umpires who have got through the exam successfully are Tyronne Wijewardena, R. Kottahachchi, D. Gunawardena, Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Nandana.
The two ICC umpires Asoka de Silva and Gamini Silva had failed written exams on an earlier occasion as well.
The exam would also serve as the criteria for ranking Sri Lankan domestic umpires while three of the five successful candidates would be nominated by Sri Lanka cricket to the ICC panel.
Meanwhile, a majority of candidates had protested that the exam was held only in English and not in Sinhala. Some umpires boycotted the exam and left the exam hall without sitting for the exam as a mark of protest.
At a recent meeting of the Sri Lanka Cricket umpires committee, some umpires blamed the authorities for not conducting the exams in the Sinhala medium.
However the SLC umpires committee officials had pointed out that it was not practical to hold the exam in Sinhala as those who would be selected for the ICC panel will obviously have to work in English on an international level.
Meanwhile a group of umpires who had failed the exam had made a request to Sri Lanka Cricket to disregard the results of the exam and nominate umpires to the ICC panel only based on the current rankings of the domestic first class umpires.