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Sri Lanka will have a new cricket captain by next week.

The new selection committee whose first task was to pick the Sri Lanka 'A' squad to England, is expected to name the new captain by Monday.

The contenders to take over the mantle from Arjuna Ranatunga has boiled down to just two - Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, both members of newly-crowned Premier champions Bloomfield.

Mahela Jayawardene of SSC is the likely choice of vice-captain.

The need for a change at the top became apparent following Sri Lanka's dismal run in the last five one-day tournaments beginning with the mini-World Cup in Dhaka in October last year and culminating with their unsuccessful attempt to defend the World Cup in England last month.

In that period Sri Lanka went through five one-day tournaments and failed to reach the finals in any of them, recording only seven wins against 18 defeats in 25 matches.

Ranatunga, who is expected to return home by the weekend maybe asked to quit from the captaincy and go out honourably in order to allow the selection committee to nominate his successor.

It is the right way to send him off, because the contribution Ranatunga has made to Sri Lanka cricket is immense. It would have been more appropriate had Ranatunga taken the decision to quit the captaincy on his own (a la Mark Taylor) rather than leave it to the selectors to decide for him. It would have brought him more admiration from the cricketing public, from both here and abroad.

But then Ranatunga is Ranatunga. He likes to do things his way and to a certain point he succeeded. Now the cookie has crumbled.

Undoubtedly, Ranatunga has been Sri Lanka's most successful captain leading the country in 193 one-day matches - a world record in a 11-year period that saw Sri Lanka scale the pinnacle in overs-specific cricket by winning the World Cup in 1996. He won 89 and lost 95 of those matches with eight ending in no-results and one tie.

With 22-year-old Jayewardene to be groomed as a future captain, Ranatunga's long-standing deputy Aravinda de Silva will also relinquish his post of vice-captain.

De Silva is 33 and Ranatunga, 35 and between them they have provided the backbone to the national team for the past 15 years playing in over 500 one-day internationals and scoring well in excess of 15,000 runs - a record which the new generation of cricketers who take over should do well to emulate or improve on.

Although Ranatunga and De Silva will lose their high status, there is a likelihood the selectors don't intend dumping them off unceremoniously right now. They may still figure in the series against Australia as players, but that is only as long as they perform, because the crying need now is for fresh blood to be instilled into a waning team.

The selectors may probably adopt a cautious attitude instead of making immediate wholesale changes, especially because the opposition is Australia - the unofficial world Test champions and official one-day champions, and not Zimbabwe, which may have had them thinking differently.

The candidates

Sanath Jayasuriya (29) - The popular choice for the captaincy. Has led his country in one one-day international against Zimbabwe at the SSC grounds last year. Scored a century on debut and guided his team to a four-wicket win. A phenomenon who has transformed attitudes in the one-day game through pinch hitting over the top which won his country the 1996 World Cup. Is no slouch in the Test arena either making 340 against India at R. Premadasa Stadium in 1997 - the fourth highest Test score of all time. He followed it up with an innings of 199 at the SSC. Last August, he stroked a mesmerising 213 to enable Sri Lanka beat England at the Oval. A left-hand bat and left-arm spinner, he started playing to his full potential only after being promoted to open the innings. Besides his batting pyrotechnics, he is also an effective bowler being the first from his country to take 150 wickets in one-day cricket. Returned to the side for the '99 World Cup after breaking his forearm in Australia. Had moderate success with the bat, which suggests that he has not fully recovered from the injury.

Roshan Mahanama (33) - Knowledgeable sources think he is the right man for the job not on the long term, but to bring back discipline and put the game back in its rightful place. Very much one of the unsung heroes of Sri Lanka's rise into the big league of world cricket. A specialist Test opener for much of his career he has been used productively down the order in the one-day game. Promoted to open in the '99 World Cup was one of the few batsmen to score consistently. With Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva, the only Sri Lankan to appear in more than 200 one-day internationals. Has made over 5000 runs in that time, but in terms of personal achievement his greatest day was making 225 against India at R. Premadasa Stadium in 1997 and sharing with Sanath Jayasuriya, a world Test record stand of 576. A rightt-hand batsman, he is noted for his nimbleness on the field, making him an outstanding fielder even at his age. Has been unable to command a regular place in the Test team, his last appearance being against South Africa in March 1998. Captained in two one-day internationals in Sharjah in 1994 losing by nine wickets to Australia and by two runs to New Zealand. Captain of Premier champions Bloomfield.

Mahela Jayawardene (22) - The most likely cricketer with the potential to match the deeds, one day, of the likes of Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga. A fast-emerging right-hander with the strokes and temperament to play in the big league. Has already made his mark in Test cricket scoring 167 against New Zealand on a notorious Galle Stadium pitch and a classy 242 against India at the SSC at so young an age. Showed that he can adjust well to the one-day game, when he guided Sri Lanka to victory over England in the bad-tempered World Series Cup match at Adelaide this year by scoring a match-winning 120. Had a short taste of what vice-captaincy is all about when he was appointed to the post for the Asian Test championship match against Pakistan when Ranatunga and De Silva were both injured.