Sri Lankan cricket team is full of puzzles. The manner in which they raise the standards for key tournaments and matches is outstanding. They are the most consistent team in ICC events in the last ten years. They also produce players with unusual styles who go onto make massive impact. Their talents puzzle many in other parts of the world. Equally puzzling is how they keep producing excellent results when their administrators are egoistic, petty minded and self-centered.
Last month no less a person than Kumar Sangakkara told a newspaper that he had been harassed by a powerful official at Sri Lanka Cricket. Sangakkara added that there had been a concerted effort to tarnish his image questioning his loyalty to the country.
With the World Cup six months away, there’s much to be done to get the team on track, but officials are fighting each other in a bid to seize control of the board.
SLC President Jayantha Dharmadasa and Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga are involved in a bitter battle for power and they took their battle public after the President accused the Secretary of abuse of power.
In a memo to SLC Vice President Mohan de Silva, Dharmadasa stated. “Your deafening silence when the Honourary Secretary deliberately violated the Constitution and abrogated all powers wrongfully to himself is mystifying to say the least. Either you did not know the provisions of the Constitution or you deliberately allowed the Secretary to violate same without bringing it to his attention.”
The letter followed after Dharmadasa had won the support of the SLC Executive Committee to clip wings of Ranatunga by empowering the board CEO. Ranatunga, however, seems to have regained the powers he enjoyed after the Sports Minister intervened. SLC ExCo currently has two camps who are at each other.
The fight started when the board decided to disburse funds to member clubs. Both parties wanted the credit for distribution of funds. SLC elections will take place in March next year.
The rival factions are also squabbling over the appointment of the Head Coach of the national cricket team. The Ranatunga faction is keen to retain the services of Marvan Atapattu, who has done a splendid job having guided Sri Lanka to their maiden series win on English soil. He is the only Sri Lankan to have applied for the post. With the World Cup less than six months away, Atapattu is the ideal man as he has been in the system for close to four years now. But the Dharmadasa faction prefers a foreigner. One main reason could be that Atapattu is Ranatunga’s brother-in-law.
Sri Lanka Cricket is a tricky place. Four years ago, Sports Minister C.B. Ratnayake went public stating that SLC was the third most corrupt institution in the country. Many expected a clean-up job. But instead, three months later, the Minister lost his portfolio in a Cabinet reshuffle. Ironically, individuals who were holding office then are still holding office.
Infighting at SLC is nothing new. After the country won the World Cup in 1996, the board became wealthy financially with television companies willing to pay big money for telecasting rights.
Two days after the country won the World Cup in March 1996, Ana Punchihewa, the SLC Chairman was ousted at the board’s election. Upali Dharmadasa, the younger brother of current Chairman Jayantha, who succeeded Punchihewa faced many challenges with some of them coming from his own Vice-President – the ambitious Thilanga Sumathipala.
The government dismissed Sumathipala on charges of corruption which were never proved soon after Sri Lanka’s awful performance in the 1999 World Cup. His Executive Committee was replaced by a government appointed Interim Committee that had some high profile names. The committee carried on with a no nonsense approach and restored accountability at SLC and the team started performing with the return of Dav Whatmore as the coach and Sanath Jayasuriya elevated as captain.
The Interim Committee was short-lived though as government interference forced them to quit.
Since then, the sport has been governed more by Interim Committees than elected bodies. Barring the first two Interim Committees, the other bodies were highly political. Interim Committees that weren’t answerable to SLC membership was one reason why the board went bankrupt soon after hosting the 2011 World Cup.
SLC woes were so bad that they were unable to pay a sum running into billions of rupees which they owed two state institutions – Sri Lanka Ports Authority and State Engineering Corporation that were involved in building the venues for the 2011 World Cup. SLC had been negotiating with the government to write off the debt. What that means is that the SLC waste will be a burden on the public.
With infighting unlikely to end any sooner, another Interim Committee could be coming soon to govern the affairs of SLC.
