Fantastic four should go or not

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With the core of our national cricket team- Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tilakaratne Dilshan and Thilan Samaraweera- now approaching the twilight of their careers, Sri Lankan cricket too is heading towards tricky crossroads with the very low show in Australia. This week, The Sunday Times asked the general public whether they felt the time had come to look beyond the team’s four elder statesmen.

In the Australian series, senior players have not succeeded except for Sanga. We have to give new players a chance. Last year Dinesh Chandimal went to Australia and he performed well. I think they have to give players like him an opportunity. Hopefully, in our next few matches this happens. - Anushka Buddhika (Private sector employee)	We should have found replacements for them a long time ago by bringing in more young players. I’m not saying we should have taken them all out at once and put in new players, but we should have gradually brought in youngsters and groomed them - Avishka Gunawardene (Former Sri Lanka opening batsman)	I think Thilan only has a little while longer so we need to select another newcomer into the Test team. The other three senior players must play. - Charith Kavinda (Private sector employee)
They are the only seniors we have. They should stay. We don’t have any good new players. What we can do is rotate the four experienced players so at least two senior players get to play in every match, that way they can help the team grow. But if all at once our four top seniors don’t play it will be bad for the team. - Irshad Khaleel (Three Wheeler Driver)	They bring a lot of experience so I think they should definitely be in the team. For example, we have Angelo Mathews in the middle order. The ways in which he lost his wicket in the last few Tests was not the way a good and responsible Test player would get out. He still doesn’t have enough experience to handle the Sri Lankan team. So they need more support from older players. - Mohamed Riza (Salesman)	As far as young blood goes there is not much potential plus the selection process has not grown to a point where talent can just pour in. So if the senior players also move out they will have to start from scratch. - Naveen Sivakumaran (Student)
It’s good if they’re playing but at the same time newcomers must also be taken into the team. The seniors also should keep improving themselves because we can’t place all our faith in new players. - Niroshan Liayanage (Cheque clearance officer)	These four seniors must play. Firstly though, we have to give priority to making sure they are focused when going out to play. Look at Mahela’s mentality. When he went to Australia it changed because of problems he faced with the cricket board. When the Captain is not in a proper mental state, the team won’t be either. At least four senior players must play for the team. It’s happening all over the world but our cricket board has a responsibility to keep them happy. - S. P Kumar (Shop owner)	No they should stay because they are very experienced. The Sri Lankan cricket team does not have that experience so they should stay and continue their good work. They are still capable of doing a lot more. - Salinda Kurian (Law student)
	Our youngsters have still not matured so our senior players should hang around. Especially Dilshan, Sanga and Mahela. Dilshan and Mahela are particularly good for our One Day cricket - Sampath Rasanjana (Private sector employee)