Easier said than done

This is sheer fact and not mere fiction. First a journalist calls the Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket and inquires about a reported Lankan five-match ODI tour of Pakistan which was going to overlap the current IPL tournament being played in India. Alas! The CEO was oblivious of the whole issue. Ironically there were latter adjustments and a second statement was blurted out to the effect that this tour may take place after the IPL is over, and now the Sri Lanka team is on the verge of leaving for Pakistan not to take part in that purported five-match ODI tour, but the Asia Cup which was already in the FTP and will be played from June 24.

The next was, the same journalist sees an advertisement in a daily newspaper calling applications for selectors for the National Team, Women’s national team and the Junior Cricket teams. He was aware that a move of this nature had earlier been blocked by the Minister of Sports, so he called the secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket and queried how come this advertisement has appeared over the original blockade. Alas! The secretary did now know a thing about an advertisement calling for applications for national selectors and so on.

These are just a glimpse of the state of affairs in Lankan cricket right now and let’s do an in-house tour on this whole cavalcade. After the incumbent Chairman of the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket, Arjuna Ranatunga was handed over its reins as a result of a foreseen political twist that had no bearing at all in cricket, many a cricket lover breathed a sigh of relief and most of them welcomed it too. The SOR was shortlived. Soon things started going sour or could you call it just started to go on the reverse?

Once he wanted Asia Cup moved to Sri Lanka when Pakistan officialdom was fighting hard to keep international cricket being played in the country against a severe internal strife and then he had the large next door neighbours upset by comparing IPL to noodles and then trying to play a five-match ODI series overlapping the IPL. Ranatunga started at home promising very transparent governance, but before long it turned topsy-turvy when he gagged the secretary of the Interim Committee because he made a clarification to the press about one of his utterances.

With this move an Interim Committee within the Interim Committee was created. As a result at times half the original interim committee was oblivious of certain important decisions taken by the other half of the ad-hoc IC. Then he further antagonises the fourth estate by unceremoniously ditching the incumbent Media Manager and placing a person in that position in a very unprofessional move (though the promise was to employ a media manager through the proper channels, we hear that the new person is yet to get his letter of appointment in spite of him signing official SLC documents).

A while earlier, things going bad was indicated when the two bowling coaches – Champaka Ramanayake and Ruwan Kalpage who were responsible for unearthing bowlers like Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis were usurped out of their positions. The vacancies are yet to be filled. It is learned that one of the fast bowlers who was approached had declined the offer and the Asia Cup, the Indian Tour of Sri Lanka and Champions Trophy are lined up in a chain of events.

The heat was also turned on the Director of Cricket operations Bandula Warnapura. For unexplained reasons a junior was placed above him and thus making him look sharp at his future. Where the national cricketers are concerned the categorised list for contracts for the ensuing year was handed to the board on March 19th 2008 and the cricketers took wing to the West Indies with only tour contracts at hand. Still, after 62 days of deliberations the national cricketers are an unhappy lot and are yet to sign the documents for reasons right or wrong. Is this sheer callousness or just plain blockheadedness – people keep asking the question.

As soon as Ranatunga took control of the hot seat he met the local press along with the national selectors and there it was mentioned that they functioned very smoothly without a trace of the slightest hiccup. However another national newspaper has revealed that the mysterious Daily Newspaper advertisement calling for national selectors is only a ruse to get rid of some of the national selectors which includes its chairman Asantha de Mel and Don Anurasiri. At the same time those in the know say this may be a ruse to bring back the same people who were in the list that the minister rejected a few days ago and extend the life of the present national selectors till the end of July.

The Minister of Sports also seems to be rather perturbed by these developments. He also has stated that nothing will be okayed by him without the approval of the executive committee. I was just having a chat on the present cricket predicament with a very senior cricketer who is involved in a very active role in present day cricket. Just speaking on the subject he lamented “May be in the past administrations there were shortcomings and there were persons looking for a crooked buck hanging on to the administration.

Today, there is no difference. If you take a closer look the hangers on are still there, but the only difference is that cricket’s main administration building looks like the killing fields. It’s just that if he does not like your face you are a goner.“At the same time cricket-wise what has been done? Absolutely nothing has been done towards the development of the game. This is very disappointing. We hoped when a cricketer of this calibre took over there will be more done towards the development of the game, but, what is happening today is the complete reverse of it”.

In Australia at the official dinner a speech was made. It said that “now that cricket has come to the hands of the cricketers it is in good hands. In the future there would be no place for businessmen in the game and we will seek our own future”. At this end what we can only add is, “It is easier said than done”