Now, we can only look back at those glory days and reflect, wondering whether they will ever dawn again
These days, when one finds that Sri Lanka Cricket is in turmoil, it is no longer news. Instead, it would be news if Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was not in turmoil.
So, when stories of a match fixing scandal involving a few players and a curator employed by SLC emerged, hardly anyone raised an eyebrow. SLC swiftly announced that it would co-operate with investigations launched by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and it was business as usual thereafter.
Except, there was one hiccup. The election of officials for SLC was scheduled for this week. That was postponed on an order obtained from the Court of Appeal by one of the candidates, Nishantha Ranatunga. Ranatunga was objecting to incumbent President of SLC, Thilanga Sumathipala running for re-election.
The election itself, had it been held, would have been farcical. Sumathipala was in the running as was Mohan de Silva, his Man Friday. The strategy was as simple as it was effective. Sumathipala clearly anticipated a challenge to his candidacy, so he has a plan B: if he is disqualified for some reason, de Silva will be the official President and Sumathipala will run SLC by proxy.
There is a sense of déjà vu about all this. This has all happened before. Interim committees have been appointed previously to cleanse the cricket administration. Nevertheless, Sumathipala has returned, time and again, to head SLC. Undoubtedly, that is because of the political patronage he has enjoyed in successive Governments - and continues do so to this day.
Recently, Sumathipala boasted that SLC had recorded massive profits last year, probably the best ever in its history. That was largely due to two factors: the Government not enforcing payment for stadia built for the 2011 World Cup hosted jointly by Sri Lanka and because of profits from the ‘Nidahas’ trophy tournament where Sri Lanka didn’t even qualify for the finals.
What Sumathipala conveniently fails to mention- and what every cricket fan in Sri Lanka is painfully aware of- is that while he is busy balancing his books and looking at the profit margins, the performance of the national cricket team has declined to abysmal depths, the likes of which we have not witnessed since the country was granted test status.
Now, Sri Lanka is beaten on a regular basis- and not in ‘one off’ upset victories- by countries such as, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Soon, even Afghanistan might join that list. This woeful run of form has become so ludicrous that recently South African A.B. De Villiers and Indian skipper Virat Kohli joked about it in public. Asked why India plays Sri Lank so often, Kohli replied, more matter of fact than tongue in cheek, that it was during ‘off season’, so it didn’t count, hinting that Sri Lanka is not worthy competition.
Sri Lanka’s cricketing woes are too well known and too exhaustive to be documented in these columns. Coaches have been hired and fired almost at whim. Last year, we seemed to be having a new national captain every month.
Cricketers’ careers have been put on hold or ruined as short-term selection policies led to defeat after defeat. Now, with match fixing scandals, even the very integrity of the sport in this country is being questioned.
Knowledgeable observers and respected past cricketers say, the decline in Lankan cricket is due to the dilution of its premier tournament. Its base has been expanded from twelve clubs to twenty-four clubs. The result is that so-called ‘first class’ cricket in Sri Lanka is not really first class.
The reason for this expansion is that all clubs at this grade possess votes that elect officials to SLC. Therefore, the more clubs one includes, the more votes one can canvass. It is grassroots politicking within the cricket administration and Sumathipala is too clever a political animal not to realise this.
It does not seem to matter that this tactic comes at the expense of the standard of cricket in the country, tarnishing its hard-earned reputation as a great cricketing nation which won the World Cup in 1996. Instead, what matters is that Thilanga Sumathipala and his henchmen remain at the helm of SLC.
Sumathipala has rivals who are powerful. Arjuna Ranatunga, former World Cup winning captain and now a Minister in the government, is among them. He has not been able to dislodge Sumathipala from his pedestal. In a country where political patronage means everything, the fact that Sumathipala remains at the helm means that his friends in high places are even more powerful.
It is well known in the corridors of Maitland Place- and in the corridors of power- that the United National Party wanted to take over the portfolio of Sports when former Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera quit his job and joined the Opposition.
Jayasekera who is famous for letting Sumathipala run SLC as his fiefdom is now himself in hot water over accepting a million rupee ‘donation’ from those involved in the Central Bank bond scam, but that is a different story.
The UNP’s request was denied and the Sports Ministry now rests with Faiszer Musthapha. As a result, Sumathipala need not worry but the Sri Lankan public will have to wait for many more months to see reform at SLC. As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
It is clear from events in the preceding years that political interests and big business deals have been the overarching factor for those administering cricket in Sri Lanka- not the betterment of the game or maintaining a high standard on the playing field.
That is sad because cricket in this country, apart from being a great colonial legacy the British left us, has also been the glue that stuck together different elements of our society when it was in strife over decades of civil war.
When our national cricket team played and won- as they did in 1996- it did not matter what race they were; they were all Sri Lankans.
Now, we can only look back at those glory days and reflect, wondering whether they will ever dawn again as our politicians plunder the game that all Sri Lankans love so dearly.