Cricket cold war Blood on the dance floor
View(s):There are some things that capture the imagination of the masses more than any other social norm. In this tiny island nation, the game of cricket is such a massive social pastime that the people have come to believe in the game and the result is that they advertise the fact that they are proud to be Sri Lankan.
Just take a stroll down your street and count how many people irrespective of age, gender, race cast, religion or even political ideologies sporting the Lankan cricket T-shirt. They wear it because even subconsciously they align themselves to the joy and the proud moments that Lankan cricket has brought to them, sometimes taking them out of their day-to-day drudgeries. Cricket has such magical power in Sri Lanka.
This phenomenon is not confined to our shores. Wherever I have travelled to – a Sri Lankan home abroad, mainly in the countries where cricket is played, an item that is prominently displayed is the Lankan flag. They say they get that inner feeling of being Sri Lankan when they wave the flag at the grounds whenever Lankan team is in action in those countries.
Yes, cricket has been prevalent as a leading pastime in Sri Lanka for the past one hundred years or more. But, the basic truth is that the nation as a whole has begun to put its faith behind cricket as a special sport and a part of its dream since 1996. This came after a set of cricketers believed in themselves that they could conquer the world and did the very same thing at the Lahore International Cricket Stadium beating Australia in the final of the ICC World Cup final.
That is one side of the story. The World Cup win cut through another avenue — better explained as a dark alley — this was a twist at the so-called higher echelons of the game or to be more precise, the administrators, who are supposed to be the custodians of the game.
The initial betrayal: We have gone through that before. But, to roll out this tale of woes, it has to be said again. The betrayal that I talk about is how Ana Punchihewa who was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka in 1996 was unceremoniously dumped by Upali Dharmadasa, Thilanga Sumathipala and co with a series of dummies sold at the AGM.
Turning back the pages, now we come to realise it really was not the dumping of Punchihewa that mattered. Prior to this game-changing AGM, sidestepping and selling dummies were unheard of. Lankan cricket was small in quantity with hardly any money. The Punchihewa administration was running round with a begging bowl to raise money to make Sri Lanka the best Test playing nation by the year 2000. The sudden World Cup win was may be an early by-product of that. The set of cricketers who played the game in the middle were mature and they were up to it. But, the chilling factor was the cut-throat culture that was infused into our cricket in the run-up to the 1996 AGM, held 14 days after the World Cup victory. .
Yet for all, the game went on unhindered in the middle at national level. In reality with the ICC dollars coming in and the cricketing world believing in the abilities of the Lankan cricketers, the game of cricket began to grow in the island. In the near two decades since then the Lankans have grown to be one of the top teams in the ICC rankings and their opponents in the field have begun to show
SLC President’s letter to the stakeholders with regard to the letter sent by the SLC secretary
respect and take Sri Lankan cricket seriously.
Since 1996, the Lankan cricket has grown with names like Arjuna Rantunga, Aravinda de Silva, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Thillekeratne, Marvan Atapattu, Thilan Samaraweera and now Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara, Lasith Malinga, T.M. Dilshan and Rangana Herath. They were the pivots that bound the Lankan game together and they managed to keep the game out of the grasp of the detracting officials who tried to make them their pawns from time to time.
But, sadly today, the administration twist that was concocted in 1996, has burst its seams. The twist in 1996 saw the game’s administration gradually getting politicised. This culminated in the Interim Committees becoming the canoes that the administrations rode in. Sometimes it was in silky smooth waters, but most of the time the administrations were in choppy uncertain waters and the niceties and the generally accepted norms disappeared one by one.
The ICC mindful of this factor warned and wanted the administrations to be void of politics. The world body insisted that the local body’s administrators should be democratically elected. Yes, the administration was reverted to the old AGM system, but, did that happen the way it should. No!
In the first term of the post-interim period, Upali Dharmadasa made his way through to the hot seat of Sri Lanka Cricket President and Nishantha Ranatunga made his way in as the secretary – the two main positions, uncontested. The clubs were satisfied, though by some form of a political spell, Thilanga Sumathipala who was also interested in taking part was asked to take a rest.
In the second term, Upali’s brother Jayantha was given a similar opportunity. Once again Thilanga Sumathipala was requested to stay off. Nishantha Ranatunga who held to the post of secretary from its Interim days, made it to the secretary’s position once again without a contest.
With the next elections in the horizon (maybe it is a distance away as it is scheduled for April 2015), the things are heating up. Down the grapevine we hear that both Jayantha Dharmadasa and Nishantha Ranatunga are interested in contesting for the post of SLC President.
Initially, it was shadow boxing, barking at the moon and laughing at other forums. But, of late the hallowed halls of Maitland Place are becoming like the streets of Gaza, where no one is safe to walk.
The clubs are bewildered. The secretary sent out one letter stating that there is a meeting at a certain place, and then the President’s letter follows painting a different picture.
The Executive Committee has definitely been chopped into two halves with some looking after the Ranatunga interests and the other waving the Dharmadasa flag.
Even the straightforward cricket matters are taken to the altar of sacrifice and it is learned that even some of the players are being nurtured by the different camps.
Mid last week the cold war developed into a real battle, which even made some buzzing at the peak. On Thursday, while the first day of the second Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was going on, the two feuding factions were summoned by Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
The meeting was not a long drawn one. But, SLC President Jayantha Dharmadasa who was coming out of the meeting looked a bit agitated. But, the official communiqué put out by the minister implied that they would live happily ever after.
However, when we dug deeper into the matter the news coming from the Dharmadasa camp said that they would make an announcement tomorrow (Monday) and even the decision may be that he and a few members of the SLC executive committee would tender their resignations.
The news from the Ranatunga camp says there is some sort of a compromise reached, but, this is not the end of the battle. The second round of the shelling would begin as soon as the heats of the peace talks are over.
This is a sad situation indeed. With all these recent achievements sometimes even against the tide, does our cricket deserve situations of this nature?
Since 1996 the Lankan cricket administration has been grappling with the egos of three dynasties — the Sumathipalas, the Dharmadasas and the Ranatungas. In the given period, besides some selected interim committees one of these factions has been holding the positions of President of the SLC, Chairman of the SLC Interim Committee or the Secretary of an Interim committee or the elected governing body, if not as ‘man behind the scene– Don Corleone’. The struggle for power between these three entities thus has brought in this factionalism and also opened the doors for the political culture to take its roots within.
How the game of cricket is going to wriggle out this conundrum is the prevailing million dollar question.