Australia’s unstinted support towards Sri Lankan cricket

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After multiple rejections of Sri Lanka’s application for Test status, there was a sigh of relief when Gamini Dissanayake put forward a fresh proposal in 1981 as Australia supported the bid.

It had been proposed by Pakistan and seconded by India. Once Australia, one of the founding members of the ICC, showed solidarity with Sri Lanka, England weren’t going to veto the bid. England didn’t support the bid either but abstained from voting.

Australia’s support towards Sri Lankan cricket has been unstinted over the years. Before Gamini Dissanayake attended the ICC meeting in 1981, he had brought down Australian cricket bosses Fred Bennett and David Richards appealing them to support Sri Lanka’s bid. (Richards went onto become the Chief Executive Officer of ICC). Australia’s support was paramount as they and England as founding members of the ICC had veto power.

Killi Rajamahendran and Nuzki Mohammad, two pillars of Dissanayake’s administration at the Cricket Board were entrusted with convincing the Australian delegation that Sri Lanka was ready for Test status. After multiple visits to cricketing facilities in Colombo, Galle and Kandy, the Australians were of the view that Sri Lankan cricket had come of age although they had some reservations about the facilities at some of the venues. With the President of the country J.R. Jayewardene, a former Chairman of the Cricket Board himself, giving assurance to address, the Australians needed little convincing and hence their support came for our bid for Test status 40 years ago.

Once we got into the big league, apart from India and Pakistan, Australia were the nation that extended the biggest support to Sri Lankan cricket to grow and develop.

Unlike in the modern day where when big teams like India, England or Australia visit, the local board benefits due to the television revenue, in the years gone by, getting down a top team was going to cost you an arm and a leg. In other words, the hosting country had to pay the visitors something called the ‘guarantee fee’. That’s one reason why West Indies never toured our shores when they were a strong force in the world. The poor Sri Lankan board simply couldn’t afford the Lloyds, Richards, Garners and Holdings.

Instead of coming to Colombo often, what Australia did was take Sri Lanka over there frequently. As a result, the national team made frequent visits in 1980s and 1990s to play World Series Cricket, better known as the Benson & Hedges Trophy.

Australia also undertook the training of Sri Lankan curators, with Arthur Mailey being entrusted with the job.

Most of Sri Lanka’s coaching staff over the years have been Australians. As the first cricketing nation that embraced sports science into cricket, Australians offered much more to the sport when the rest of the world was moving at snail’s pace. Not just coaches, but qualified physiotherapists and trainers took the game to the next level and except on rare occasions, Sri Lankan support staff have been mostly Australian.

When Ana Punchihewa, who succeeded Gamini Dissanayake in 1994 after his untimely death, put up a ambitious plan to make Sri Lanka the best cricketing nation by the year 2000, he felt the need for a foreign coach. So it is to Australia he turned and they recommended Colombo born former Test batsman Dav Whatmore. He was coaching Australian Sheffield Shield side Victoria at that time.

Punchihewa was excited with the idea but Whatmore was going to cost the board US$ 100,000 a year. Suddenly, the ambitious cricket chief got cold feet. But again, Australia came to the rescue. Sri

Lanka were supposed to travel to Australia in 1995 and they were set to get a guarantee fee of US$ 100,000. The Australian board doubled it to US$ 200,000 and paid half of it in advance so that Whatmore could be paid. The rest as they say is history.

Australia played Sri Lanka in a three match Test series a decade before England did. They were also quick to recognize Sri Lankan coaching talents. Chandika Hathurusingha was drafted in pretty early by New South Wales and from there he was entrusted with overseeing the development of several young players, including one Steve Smith.

Within days after the tsunami in 2004, Australian cricket authorities were busy organizing charity games so that they could help the locals. Many families that were left homeless benefited thanks to these exhibition games.

Despite the civil unrest last month, Australia assured the Sri Lanka board that the six week tour of the island would go ahead and the team has landed and are on the verge of an exciting series. If the Aussies had hesitated even for a moment or had wanted a change of venues, Sri Lanka would have faced some serious problems.

Historically, Cricket Australia has been a great ally of Sri Lanka Cricket. There have been some unsavoury incidents like the Darrel Hair episode and SLC’s objection of former Prime Minister John Howard becoming the ICC President on flimsy grounds. But the positives outnumber the negatives.