Cancelled 1968 Cricket tour of England
View(s):Controversies of Cricket team selections are not a new thing for Ceylon/Sri Lanka. They have a long history. The worst was the cancellation of a Cricket tour of England in 1968, because of team selections, which paved the way for the introduction of a Sports Act.
The cancellation of the tour was a blow for Sir Learie Constantine, the legendary West Indian cricketer, who worked hard on the initial arrangements.
Jubilation in local Cricket circles started when S.C. Griffiths, the then Secretary of the Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC) and Manger of the MCC to Australia in 1965, announced a Ceylonese tour of England in 1968. This offer came as Ceylon was elected as an Associate Member of the ICC in 1965.
The MCC had made arrangements for Ceylon to play against 12 counties.
Before selections got underway, some Ceylon players objected to the idea of selecting Ceylonese cricketers playing First Class cricket in England.
The Board of Control for Cricket in Ceylon, which was not a wealthy body as at present, had to face many problems in finding sponsors. The first to come forward was the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd (Lake House) headed by Ranjith Wijewardene. Later, many business institutions and individuals came forward to help. While efforts at fundraising in the UK and at home were underway, the Board appealed to the Department of Exchange Control for a Government grant of Rs.126,000 (approximately 12,500 sterling pounds). The request was turned down, as the government was short of foreign exchange. The Board informed the ICC that it was forced to cancel the tour.
While the board was busy finding funds for the tour, a member of the selection committee selected himself while another selector was chosen as the captain. In protest as appointing a selector as captain, overlooking the case of a deserving player, a selector resigned.
Another bomb exploded when two club members forwarded a resolution, as the resigned selector was elected at an AGM and hence, a new selection committee to be elected at a Special General Meeting. It was passed by 23-8 votes, and the team selected was declared ultra vires.
A three-member committee comprising the Minister of Sports (MoS), President of the Board of Control and the Board Secretary, discussed matters arising out of the aftermath of the selection, and instructed that the tour be canceled.
The chairman of the selection committee and the captain elect informed the Board that they were willing to stand down, as chairman and captain respectively, for the tour to materialise.
Later, the Board called for an Emergency meeting and decided to call off the tour. Ceylon team never went beyond the Board room.
The then MoS, the late K.B. Ratnayake, a fine cricketer, who captained Hartely College, Jaffna, to become the first Sinhalese to lead the school and a gentleman par excellence, realised the need for a Sports Act.
The National State Assembly passed the first ever Sports Act in 1973, and it came into life through the efforts of the late minister. Some sort of order was needed in Sri Lanka Sports and the necessity to frame Rules and Regulations governing the election of office bearers and Committees of Sports Associations and how long they could serve, was the main reason behind introducing the Act.
The first committee appointed by the MoS included J.P. Obesekera as chairman, S. Coomaraswamy and Shelley Wickermasinghe. Wickremasinghe and Coomaraswamy were appointed to represent Cricket in the island.