Wickramasinghe Gallage Pramodya (born August 14, 1971), commonly known as Pramodya Wickramasinghe, is a former

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm-fast bowler. He was a member of

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 for sponsorship reasons, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament wa ...

winning team. He is the former national chief selector of both Sri Lanka men's and women's cricket teams.

Domestic career

Gentle in pace, but deadly in accuracy, he played for

Sinhalese Sports Club The Sinhalese people, Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) was a first-class cricket club in Colombo, Sri Lanka till 2025 when they were relegated after enduring a horrendous 2024-25 version of the Major Club 3 day tournament in which they could only m ...

in club cricket competitions. He made his first-class debut in 1988 playing for Sinhalese Sports Club. He became internationally known in 1989 after the Youth Asia Cup Championship, and toured

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with the Sri Lanka B team in 1991. In November that year, he became the first bowler in Sri Lankan domestic cricket to take all ten wickets in a single innings, finishing with 10 for 41 against Kalutara Physical Culture Club in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

International career

Pramodya made his ODI debut on 31 December 1990 at the

1990–91 Asia Cup The 1990–91 Asia Cup was the fourth Asia Cup tournament, and was held in India between 25 December 1990, and 4 January 1991. Three teams took part in the tournament: India, Sri Lanka and Asian leading associate member Bangladesh. Pakistan ...

against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. He made his test debut on 12 December 1991 against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He played a key role in Sri Lanka's first ever three match test series win in away condition during the tour of Pakistan in 1995-96. During the series he picked up eight wickets as Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan 2–1 to secure their first test series win against Pakistan in Pakistan. He represented Sri Lanka in the 1992, 1996 and 1999 World Cup tournaments. However, he could not make any major impact during the 1996 Wills Cricket World Cup and ended the tournament without taking a wicket. He was also a member of the Sri Lankan team during the inaugural edition of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

where Sri Lanka reached semifinals. He took his 100th ODI wicket in an ODI against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

in 1999 by dismissing

Andy Flower Andrew Flower (born 28 April 1968) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and a former cricketer. As a cricketer, he captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team and is widely regarded as the greatest Zimbabwean cricketer ever and one of the greatest wi ...

. Though playing steadily from then on until 2000, he found himself in need of a

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder m ...

operation in Australia in 2000 which more-or-less ended his career, as from then on he found it difficult to find a place for himself within the side. He made a comeback return to national team in 2002 during the 2002 NatWest Series after a gap of two years following his recovery from shoulder operation. However, he struggled against England and India during the NatWest Series and was dropped from the team permanently.

Chief selector

He became the President of Sri Lanka Cricket Association and later joined the Sri Lankan national selection committee in 2004 which was headed by Ashantha de Mel. He was also included in the newly appointed selection panel headed by

Sanath Jayasuriya Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya (, ; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, captain, cricket administrator and coach. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest all rounders ever to play in ODI cricket. A left arm orthodox sp ...

in 2013. In December 2020, he was also included in the seven member selection panel led by Ashantha de Mel. On 8 April 2021, he was appointed as the chairman of national selection committee by the Sri Lanka Cricket on the recommendation of sports minister

Namal Rajapaksa Lakshman Namal Rajapaksa (, ; born 10 April 1986; known as Namal Rajapaksa) is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He is the eldest son of former President of Sri Lanka, President and former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Mahinda Ra ...

replacing Ashantha de Mel.

Controversies

In 2017, he was reported to have made corruption and match fixing allegations against some of the national cricketers such as

Upul Tharanga Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985), commonly known as Upul Tharanga () is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer. A former limited-overs captain, Tharanga played all formats of the game. He was a left-handed opening batsman ...

and

Dinesh Chandimal Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal (; born 18 November 1989) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. A handy right-handed middle order batter who sometimes plays as the wicket-keeper, Chandimal ...

following the ODI series defeat against Zimbabwe at home. However, Pramodya insisted that he had not made such allegations against the cricketers and he clarified that he blamed only the team selection strategy. The

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes criminal investigation, detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is disti ...

also inquired the defamation petition signed by 40 national cricketers against Pramodya over his remarks. In addition, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

also conducted a corruption investigation based on the claims of Pramodya. After becoming the chairman of national selection committee in April 2021, he controversially sacked senior players from the national team in limited overs international matches with the intention of grooming youngsters targeting the

2023 Cricket World Cup The 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup was the 13th edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted from 5 October to 19 ...

. Following the implementation of his youth policy, senior cricketers

Angelo Mathews Angelo Davis Mathews (; ; born 2 June 1987) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the national cricket team in all formats. Mathews plays all formats for Sri Lanka. Mathews was a member of the team that won the 2014 I ...

and

Thisara Perera Narangoda Liyanaarachchige Thisara Chirantha Perera (; born 3 April 1989), popularly known as Thisara Perera, is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer who played all formats for the national team. He also captained the team in limited-over ...

threatened to quit international cricket. However, his move was backfired with horrendous performances by the national team in the tours of Bangladesh and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickramasinghe, Pramoyda Alumni of Rahula College 1971 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Basnahira South cricketers Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Burgher Recreation Club cricketers Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club cricketers Ruhuna cricketers Cricketers from Matara, Sri Lanka Deshabandu Sinhalese people