Former Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) President and the Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala and former SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga will be the two main candidates for the upcoming Sri Lanka Cricket election which is to be held on January 3rd.
At the behest of the International Cricket Council, Sports Minister has made arrangements to hold fresh elections to elect office bearers to run the wealthiest sporting body in Sri Lanka. 86 clubs will have 147 votes to elect the top-office bearers in this much-anticipated Battle of the Maroons because incidentally, Thilanga Sumathipala is a former Nalandian while Nishantha Ranatunga is a former Anandian.
From the Thilanga camp, former President Mohan de Silva will contesting for the post of SLC Secretary while Former Vice President K. Mathivanan are contesting for the post of Vice President of Sri Lanka Cricket. Shammi de Silva is contesting for the post of Treasurer and Raveen Wickremeratne is contesting for the post of Assistant Secretary.
Immediate Past President, Jayantha Dharmadasa has also given nominations to the post of President at the eleventh hour.
From the Ranatunga team, Bloomfield C & AC president Hirantha Perera will vie for the post of SLC Secretary while former cricketer Nilantha Rathnayake submitted his nomination for the post of Assistant Secretary. World Cup winning skipper and Minister of Ports and Shipping Arjuna Ranatunga handed over nominations on 4th December for the post of SLC Vice-President from his Brother, Nishantha’s team.
Both camps are promising to provide a proper domestic structure if they are elected to office.
The Sumathipala camp is expected to continue with most of the features that were adopted by the present Interim Committee. The Elite Championship which was launched by the Interim Committee would be continued and it is expected that former National captains Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara and the incumbent Interim Committee chairman Sidath Wettimuny would play important roles in the process.
“It is a four-year plan which we hope to implement and complete by 2020. Sri Lanka Cricket needs a big transformation and we have come in partnership so that cricket will be the ultimate beneficiary,” Sumathipala said to the media after he handed over nominations.
The Ranatunga camp will put a lot of weight on good governance with the active participation of the stakeholders of the game. They also hope to distribute the money among the stakeholders in a fair manner to uplift the standards of grass-root cricket in Sri Lanka.
