It’s been an interesting few weeks in cricket circles following Sri Lanka’s dismal performance at the World Cup where they finished ninth and failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy. It’s the first time Sri Lanka will miss out on an ICC event since they took part in the first ever competition almost 50 years ago.
Sacked Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe’s move to appoint an Interim Committee didn’t go down well with many. The Executive Committee obtained a stay order taking the matter to the courts and the ICC promptly suspended SLC for government interference. Cricket is the third sport that had been suspended by a global governing body during Ranasinghe’s fiery tenure following football and rugby.
With Ranasinghe making some serious allegations in the Parliament, his position became untenable, and the government removed him from all Ministerial positions handing the Sports Ministry to Harin Fernando, who had a previous stint as Sports Minister from 2018 to 2019 and did much in a brief spell to bring in much needed transparency for cricket.
It is under his watch the Parliament made corruption in sports a crime and Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to pass laws to tackle corruption in sports.
Harin’s task this time around seems to oversee that the new cricket constitution drafted by retired Supreme Court Judge K.T. Chithrasiri is presented Parliament and together with amendments to the Sports Law it is passed.
The timeline seems that the government will give the green light for the Executive Committee to complete their tenure which ends next year and then the new constitution is introduced.
Prior to that of course the Executive Committee has to ensure that the ICC ban on SLC is lifted. Sri Lanka so far can play bilateral series and compete in ICC events, but the funding by sports’ governing body is controlled and that needs to be reversed soon for the smooth sailing of the sport.
This week, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has been meeting with all stakeholders of the sport having discussions on how to come out of the cricket crisis. One of the saliant features that has been discussed is the new constitution and once the Foreign Minister tables his recommendations to the Cabinet there will be more progress.
A similar constitution was supposed to take effect in 2016 when the blessings of then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Sports Minister Naveen Dissanayake and SLC boss Sidath Wettimuny had given the task of drafting the new constitution to late Supreme Court judge Prasanna Jayawardene.
However, the political climate at that point was uncertain and with SLFP taking over the Sports Ministry from the UNP during a Cabinet reshuffle, the new constitution was all but forgotten.
Other than his annual visit to the Royal – Thomian, President Wickremesinghe isn’t an ardent follower of the game of cricket unlike some of his party stalwarts.
D.S. Senanayake was one time President of Sinhalese Sports Club while his son Robert Senanayake was President of SLC for 16 years. J.R. Jayawardene was President of both SSC and SLC while Gamini Dissanayake had a long stint as President of the board. Sir John Kotelawala of course was elected President of SSC in 1952 and held the position until his death in 1980.
Although President Wickremesinghe’s cricket credentials aren’t as glorious as his UNP predecessors, he has taken a keen interest in the sport in recent years.
Budget allocation for building cricket infrastructure to rural areas is an indication of his recent infatuation with the sport and when he met some former cricketers to discuss which districts deserve these facilities, the President had promised to introduce major changes to cricket governance in a bid to address declining standards.
Both the Sports Law and Cricket Board Constitution are outdated and there are key areas that need to be addressed so that we keep pace with rest of the world.
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Another interesting discussion is what will the court say next Tuesday having examined SLC Ex-Co’s petition staying the appointment of the Interim Committee.
If the court says that the Interim Committee is legal, then the new Sports Minister can either name a fresh interim body to see through to the remaining months until the new constitution is presented to the Parliament or run cricket through a competent authority as was done in 2008 during the tenure of Gamini Lokuge as Sports Minister.
It’s a pity that so much of our time has been spent on legal battles and allegations being thrown back and forth on how the game has been run. There are many burning issues facing cricket and all this time and energy should have been spent on addressing how to get out of these troubled times.
Strong forces in world cricket like West Indies have deteriorated fast and the last thing you want to see is Sri Lanka going the same direction.
