A sustainable future for cricket in Sri Lanka
Introduction
Cricket in Sri Lanka has evolved beyond a sport. It is one of the country’s biggest brands. It is indeed a national asset and has helped propel Sri Lanka on the global map.
At present measures need to be taken to ensure that SLC continues to maintain its competitiveness on the global stage. This can be achieved by building a cricket structure with a long run perspective in mind.
High performance platform
Sports science is one of the main criteria lagging in Sri Lanka. This discipline can be developed within SLC through collaboration with Sri Lankan universities and through expert advice from abroad.
This field varies from education of athletes on fitness and sports nutrition to areas such as sports psychology. Research programmes can be initiated with PhD level research students from Sri Lankan universities to study ways in which sports science can be improved in the country. This will help create programs specifically tailored for Sri Lankan athletes as well as providing value and exposure for our top university graduates. Furthermore, consultation is also needed from experts from abroad where more advanced science and systems are currently in place.
Innovation
Innovative thinking should be actively encouraged across both the playing group as well as SLC. Continued review of successes and failure of such initiatives is necessary, and should be documented to continually improve on such processes.
An initiative I would encourage is utilising the expertise of coaches and staff of other sports disciplines within the country. Such cross discipline collaboration between different sports will help initiate innovating thinking and training.
It is worth noting that recently Sri Lanka experimented with cricketers who are of different styles and techniques compared to the average cricketer. Such experimentation and openness to innovation led to successful inclusion of players such as Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis into the national set up.
Domestic Structure
The domestic structure is a key area that needs most change. Therefore, in improving the overall cricket structure in Sri Lanka special attention is deserved at improving the domestic cricket structure.
Sri Lanka cricket should introduce a two-tier relegation system with a maximum of 8 teams as opposed to the current structure of 14 cricket clubs.
The highest level of domestic cricket in Sri Lanka comprises 14 cricket clubs that compete against one another. A reduction in the number of teams would result in a more competitive competition where top talent competes with one another.
A two tier relegation system consisting of a maximum of eight teams in the top premier league would ensure high playing standards. Teams at the bottom run the risk of relegation whilst top teams of the second tier competition would have a structured path to qualify to the premier league.
Such a restructure process should acknowledge and respect the rich history and the loyal support base of the current domestic clubs. SLC should work together with these clubs in creating the proposed domestic framework. Ultimately a more competitive dometic structure would help narrow the gap between the national team and the domestic teams within Sri Lanka.
Media
The media coverage of the domestic competition needs to be increased. The integration of the public to the domestic league should be an important strategic plan of SLC.
At present most of the media publicity is limited to the national team. The public has very little knowledge of emerging talent in the country, or the top performers in the domestic league. Better media coverage and more public awareness of these emerging players are critical. It would certainly ensure increased transparency in the selection of top talent.
It is a known fact that the Indian cricket team has been a dominant player on the world stage since the inception of the Indian Premier League. What is interesting is that the number of players that have rotated in the national set up has also increased dramatically. The increased public awareness of the domestic system puts increased pressure on the selection panel to ensure top talent is represented.
Pitch conditions
Utilisation of different climate conditions and soil types available in different regions of Sri Lanka is critical. More domestic games should be played in different parts of the country. Furthermore pitch conditions in such grounds around Sri Lanka should be actively monitored by SLC.
Sri Lankan domestic pitches are well known for their low and slow nature across the country. Conditions that predominantly assist spin bowling. Lack of variation in such pitch conditions results in the development of one-dimensional cricketers. This has been a major problem in the Sri Lankan set up over a long period. It is important to present the domestic player with conditions that pose different challenges.
Pallekele cricket stadium is a good initiative for exactly this reason. In a colder higher altitude climate where there is more grass growth on the surface, more swing in the air and bounce on offer, the domestic cricketers will learn the skill of adapting. This will harness techniques that are tested across various conditions, which better mimic the game at the highest level.
School Cricket
The current school cricket structure of Sri Lanka is one of the best in the world. According to current chief of SLC Mr. Sidath Wettimuny “around ninety percent of cricketers come from outside Colombo”. Therefore, it is vital that the system further supports and harness such cricketers.
An increase in the number of sports scholarship programs undertaken at school level to talented cricketers(especially cricketers based outside Colombo), as well as improved funding to rural schools and better integration of rural schools to the highest cricket level in Sri Lanka will help further strengthen the school system.
Additionally media needs to have an unbiased coverage of school cricket not limiting itself to the top schools within Colombo. As mentioned above, around ninety percent of cricketers originate from outside Colombo, yet the sports columns of weekend newspapers seem to highlight talent that is concentrated in Colombo.
It should also be noted that cricketers from outside Colombo who play in the highest level of school cricket(first division) for their respective schools still tend to make the move to Colombo: not due to the lack of quality within their current team, but due to the lack of media coverage they receive compared to their peers in Colombo.
National team
The support staff of the A-team as well as domestic teams should be kept in the loop of the strategic direction of the national team and should be periodically trained by the national set up. The synergy between the two levels would ensure a smoother transition of talent to the highest level.
The national team and domestic teams should be continually kept informed of top talent within the country. These emerging talent should be given opportunity to train and bond with the national team from an early stage.
In cricket it is critical to know the skills, weaknesses, mindset and chemistry of your own team members even more so than the opposition. This sort of information sharing would assist captains of higher levels identify and mentor talent coming through the lower ranks. It creates exposure, knowledge and networks for the budding talent as well as a wealth of knowledge to the senior mentors who would be able to better manage the transition of such talent through rigours of competitive cricket.
It is fascinating to look back at the start of the career of Sri Lanka’s greatest batsman Kumar Sangakkara. It is hard to picture him coming in to bat at number six in modern times. Yet this is exactly where he had to showcase his skills at the start of his career.
Other reasons may have contributed to this, but in essence if the national team was more aware of the talents of this emerging cricketer, they would have known better than to ask him to showcase his skills in a role he seldom has to do.