The darkest hour of Lankan cricket!
During that era, we produced captains like Arjuna Ranatunga and Cricket Board Presidents like Ana Punchihewa. Still their exploits are the subject of discussion whenever the Lankans' cricket chips are down.
I was thinking of the goldfish that jumped out of my little tank in the sitting room and couldn’t help but watch the little thing gasping for breath, until I played God and gave it a second lease of life. I still could not understand why it jumped, but it really did. Then, as the custodian of the little thing’s life, it was my duty to bail it out. Which I did, and we both lived happily ever after.
In the same vein, this time I was watching these little figures masquerading on my TV screen, also in my living room. There I was watching our Lankan National cricketers gasping for life, engaged in a losing battle for survival against a side like Afghanistan. At that point, I was enveloped with that eerie helpless feeling. When I could, I use the powers within me. I used it to rescue the little fish and resuscitate its life. But here, I flopped in my sitting room with a flushed face and blank eyes.
There is no point in talking about the Mohicans, because players such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena were there, present at the venue, but unable to engage in the game anymore. At the same time, it was proved that pep talks also do not work on the players, because it was only a few days ago that Sangakkara had a one-on-one with the players. An utter waste of precious time.
Where have we gone wrong? There is no point in finger-pointing, because the custodians of the game keep fouling up and repeat the same mistakes. So far, the concoctions we have sowed in the cricketing field have gone to rack and ruin. Are we short on talent? NO! I don’t think so.
By the end of 2011, Lankan cricket was right on top. That is not because the then administrators did right, but they were the Mohicans of a system that was right. In the early 1990s, something right happened for Lankan cricket and gradually, the Lankan cricketers got accustomed to great international cricketers’ presence along with them. Thus they became just another good cricketer from another land and, if you were prepared to meet fire with fire, you can douse it, while still retaining a part of it in your own belly. With that inspiration, we won the Cricket World Cup in 1996 and kept producing disciples of that system till the mid 2000s. The disciples of the system, in turn, adorned the Lankan crease till, may be, 2015. During that era, we produced captains like Arjuna Ranatunga and Cricket Board Presidents like Ana Punchihewa. Still their exploits are the subject of discussion whenever the Lankans’ cricket chips are down.
Thereafter, the cricket apple turned bad. Except for some individuals who were embedded in the system through interim committees, none of the other elected members served the game the way it should be served. The difference was that when we had interim committees we had people with vision and, in addition, they were not burdened by the whims and fancies of the stakeholders. As for the stakeholders, they come in with one aim, to be elected again. As for the administrators, from Day 1, their aim is to keep pleasing the stakeholders. So, they keep the stable doors open for the meek to slink in and get fattened by the cricket larder. Then, in turn, the fattened meek keep the barons voted in, to loot cricket’s exploits.
The ensuing result was that Lankan cricket lost its direction, with the ultimate result being that former Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka, get eliminated in a best of three between Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The National cricketers lose all sense of responsibility. What they premise off a national cap are the keys to wine, women and song, and one that would ignite the latest SUV to life. You get implicated in a police investigation and, in the next forty eight hours you are back in the squad, padding up for his next inning.
Then, by the administrator, the Sports Minister who is the present custodian of the game, seems to be helpless, and it looks as if someone else closer to the man at the helm, is trying to thwart every good move the Minister makes. Someone of legal means told me that it would take only an hour or less, of real time, to set up a management committee for cricket. However, that is still forthcoming because, if the cricket constitution is changed, some persons may lose their wings forever. It was also pointed out that the Rs 5.5 million near heist, also may be swept under the carpet, after pleas from the same quarters.
Finally, the victim is cricket, and it is that very game that we have made a lifestyle out of. Then, if we have lost control of the situation in cricket, we have to bail out of that predicament from that same avenue. We at the Sunday Musings feel that the cricket fraternity as a whole should take charge of the situation. They should be made responsible for the wellbeing of the game and the onus should be given to the cricketers to become the go-betweens, between national cricket, national cricketers, administration and the Sports Law of this country.
Sri Lanka Cricketers Association (SLCA), we feel, is the organisation which could take charge of this situation. The SLCA is a member of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) which is the global players’ representative body in cricket.
FICA was established in 1998 to coordinate the activities of all National Players’ Associations. It protects the interests of professional cricketers worldwide. It brings together the world’s cricketers, regardless of nationality, religion, political persuasion or race, under an international body focused on matters of general interest to the game and its players. Its motto is “The global voice of cricket”.
Yet, we are looking only to strengthen its Lankan arm, in a way it suits Lankan cricket.
Yes, there was a time that the SLCA was a powerful entity. It had good officers. National cricket and the national cricketers respected its voice and, in turn, it saw to the dignity and the wellbeing of the national cricketers as a whole. The good thing is the SLCA’s focus is cricket and it served the game as a whole.
I remember, there was a time, when the SLCA negotiated player contracts with the cricket administrators of Sri Lanka. Day by day the SLCA’s stock rose and, in turn, it was protecting the rights and the face of national cricket. But, that marriage was short lived. The crooked administration gradually usurped all its powers and saw to it that the SLCA became persona non grata.
Now, the poor cousin of cricket is perambulating aimlessly, along with its president Ken de Alwis, and thus sniffing around for acceptance.
But, definitely this could well be the catalyst. Yet, it has to be done by the cricketers themselves. First, it should be converted to a powerful forum that possesses a voice and a clout. Then, it must get accepted, not only by the Lankan cricket authority, also by the Sports Law, so that a future crooked administrator could not disown it.
Let this forum become the eyes and the voice of cricket. It is a special forum where nondescript people like me or, any other who has not played the game at the top level, stay out of the equation. Yes, it can fill in for the cricket committee during normal times, and become a part of the elections committee, when it comes to a cricket election. In short, it can become the mouth, eyes and ears of Lankan cricket.
Then, we feel, the elected administrators could seize power but, always it will be the cricketer who will have the last word. There is no need for a magic formula. The SLCA is real and it needs only muscle to become cricket’s real custodian.
PS: The question is can the feuding players unite in this hour of need?