The new nine-member interim committee headed by former Sri Lanka Test player, Sidath Wettimuny assumed duties on April 1st and the Hon Minister of Tourism & Sports, Navin Dissanayake held a media conference at SLC headquarters today in this regard.
The Hon Minister Dissanayake used his executive powers according to the Sports Policy in Sri Lanka to appointed this committee consisting of Sidath Wettamuny – President, Prakash Schafter – Secretary, Lucille Wijewardena – Treasurer, Kushil Gunasekare – Vice President,
Kapila Wijegunawardene – Vice President and executive members – Nuski Mohomed, Prassanna Jayawardene, Jayananda Warnaweera, Duminda Hulangamuwa for the betterment of cricket.
Speaking at the media conference, Minister Dissanayake spoke about the appointments, “I remained silent on cricket when I first started my stint as the sports minister because our team was participating in the World Cup. Sri Lanka Cricket was governed by interim committees’ most of the time in the past, more than 50%. This is nothing new. I have the full freedom of appointing an interim committee according to the 32, 33, 34 statements in the National Sports Policy. I have the backbone to use my powers in order to save the game we all love. “
“This committee will act on short-term basis to create an atmosphere in which fresh elections could be held. At this point, I felt it is not appropriate to have the Sri Lanka Cricket elections by the end of this April. This committee has been given goals and objectives especially to probe into the allegedly mismanaged financials of Sri Lanka Cricket. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe have granted full co-operation to these gentlemen and I assure you there will be no political interventions to their work. They have been given all the freedom to take independent decisions. There are no ‘god fathers’ in Sri Lanka Cricket administrations. The public own this sport. They are waiting for a change and from this point onwards, everything about Sri Lanka Cricket will be transparent in the future. ” Minister Dissanayake emphasized in no uncertain terms.
International Cricket Council (ICC) brought a new rule two years ago that such committees, which are appointed by the country’s government, would not be recognized. The Minister explained the false reports that Sri Lanka will be suspended by the ICC, “As a sovereign country, Sri Lanka has every legal right to appoint an Interim Committee with people of integrity who will solve the current situation at Sri Lanka Cricket. We have held diplomatic and democratic talks with David Richardson. I clearly know that they don’t like Interim Committees. We have had a good understanding with ICC since 1980 and we have justified our stand to them and we are properly engaging with them. I don’t think it will be a serious issue regarding any suspension. “
The new interim committee president, Sidath Wettimuny shared his views on the appointment, “I was happily in cricket retirement when the Hon Minister came and asked me to take over Sri Lanka Cricket. I was bit hesitant but because of his passion for the game he convinced me. He said he will give me a good team and a free hand to deliver the goods. I have nothing much to say at this moment but I can assure you all that we have good intentions about Sri Lanka Cricket but everyone will have to be patient. Finally, I am very pleased to say that Mahela Jayawardene has agreed to an honourary consultant position to help Sri Lanka Cricket because he is very passionate to improve School Cricket and its infrastructure. Even Muttiah Muralitharan has offered a helping hand to support Sri Lanka Cricket. “
With three professionally qualified accountants in the new executive committee, Minister assured creditability in all the funds which are supposed to come to Sri Lanka Cricket in the future and proper tender processes to give TV rights. He also went on to urge the legendary Kumar Sangakkara to render his services to Sri Lanka Cricket for at least another year, “ I asked him to play for another year when he was in New Zealand but he was very upset about the administrators but now I have asked Sidath to personally urge him to play for at least another year.”
Many accusations have been leveled towards the selection committee as well after the quarter-final exit in the World Cup, “It will be one of the short-term goals of this newly appointed committee. Their (current selection committee) term ends on April 30th. I have asked them to do what’s necessary. “Minister said.
Former Selection Committee chairman and current Interim Committee President Sidath Wettimuny made his views on the current selectors, “It is easy to criticize them and as a former selector, I know how tough it is. In the past two years, they have done a reasonable job. All are furious at them because of the disappointing end down under. It is necessary to have a clear thinking about the players and we will take proper measurements in the future regarding selections.“
The new chairman generally spoke in defense of selections and difficulties of the process and how thankless a job it can be. But went on to articulate to the large gathering of media present the essence of what he noticed about Sri Lanka’s World Cup sojourn “The non-stop cricket for the team before the World Cup played a major role in those injuries which occurred during the mega-event. As a past cricketer, what I saw in our team’s performance was the poor body language and that is the main issue for under-par fielding. We have a good fielding coach but our fielders did not have that spark. I am very curious to know why and I will discuss this with the Captain and Coach in the coming week.”
Many fans of Sri Lanka Cricket have shown positive feedback to this change as did the media present and it is hoped that a constructive era will be ushered-in for this much-loved game in the country by the very upstanding and genial Sidath Wettimuny and his team.
