Thilanga Sumathipala, the former president of the Sri Lankan board, has reportedly acted as a mediator and brokered a truce between Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lanka's captain, and Asantha de Mel, Sri Lanka's controversial selection chief, after their angry public dispute during the Pakistan tour, according to the Daily Mirror newspaper.
De Mel, a former fast bowler, incensed Atapattu when he publicly criticised the team management and senior players for being "selfish" and undermining the selectors' attempts to blood young players. The rift deepened when Tillakaratne Dilshan was surprisingly axed from the Test team despite averaging 36 since his return to Test cricket last year.
The spat led to a complete breakdown in communication between the two, forcing Sumathipala - a key powerbroker in the Sri Lanka cricket scene, who has returned to the limelight having started to emerge from the humiliation of an immigration scandal - to intervene and organise a face-to-face meeting.
Sumathipala met with de Mel on Wednesday at his private residence and arranged a meeting for Thursday. During that meeting, the Daily Mirror says Atapattu had explained how "certain [recent] selection decisions could undermine his status as captain" and made it difficult to win the full confidence of his players.
A third meeting was arranged on Friday, to which Duleep Mendis, the board's chief executive, also attended. The meeting apparently also touched on other issues, including the vice-captaincy, currently held by Mahela Jayawardene, which de Mel's committee are in favour of handing to Chaminda Vaas. Atapattu, though, was given an opportunity to provide his input on the issue.
Both Atapattu and de Mel agreed that the present bloated seven-man selection panel should be urgently trimmed back to the normal four-person committee. A special request is to be made to the Sports Minister, who appoints the selectors, to reduce the size of his panel.
Atapattu is due to leave for a three-week break with his family at the weekend, but when he returns a major summit meeting of past captains, senior players and top officials is expected to put together a plan for the coming few years.