Mendis appointed board chief

Duleep Mendis, a former Sri Lanka Test captain, was appointed the new permanent chief executive of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) at an executive board meeting on Wednesday.

Mendis had been appointed as acting CEO in December after the resignation of Anura Tennekoon. It had been intended as an interim appointment, but no suitable long-term candidate was identified by a local recruitment company.

Prior to his new appointment, Mendis was the SLC's director of development. Since his retirement he has also been a selector, coach, manager and team consultant. Now 51, he played in 24 Tests for his country scoring 1329 runs (averaging 31.64) with four centuries and eight fifties. He also appeared in 79 one-day internationals scoring 1527 runs(avg. 23.49) with a top score of 80.

As captain, he led his country to maiden Test victories over India and Pakistan, and also captained in two World Cup tournaments in 1983 and 1987.