Betrayed or out hit-wicket?
The ICC President Shashank Manohar who is on a 4-day official visit to Sri Lanka met President Maithripala Sirisena along with former SLC chief Thilanga Sumathipala
A mere six months after Thilanga Sumathipala, former Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president, toiled behind the scenes to have his close confidante, Shammi Silva, elected to the post he was vacating, relations between the two have turned sour. Now, businessman-turned-politician Sumathipala is likely to lose even his slot in the SLC Executive Committee.
While he did not contest the cricket election this year, Sumathipala is a member of the Executive Committee by virtue of being immediate past president. He is now on a sticky wicket grace to a new regulation.
Sports Minister Harin Fernando issued a gazette on Friday amending the National Association of Sports Regulations to ensure that anyone–or any member of his immediate family (being a spouse, parent, sibling, son or daughter or son-in-law or daughter-in-law)–who has an interest in “betting, gaming or wagering, or in a betting gaming or wagering organisation or is employed in the day to day operations of such organisation or organizations” is disqualified from holding office.
It is clear the regulation is directed at Sumathipala who has publicly admitted to his family’s involvement in the betting business but managed to hold office given the ambiguity of the previous regulations. But the new law is well in line with the International Cricket Council’s newly amended Code of Ethics which requires its directors to have no connection whatsoever to gaming and betting industries.
This is a death blow to Sumathipala, the self-proclaimed godfather of Sri Lankan cricket whose dream of getting elected to the highest chair in the ICC now seems shattered. Not only will the local regulation freeze him completely out of the game, the ICC’s new rules will shut him out of its board meetings even if domestic laws are changed in future.
Sally Clark, ICC’s senior legal consultant, on Thursday wrote to the Ministry of Sports referencing the ICC’s Code of Ethics on Relationships with Betting Organisations which states no director should be connected to the betting or gaming industry.
Did Sumathipala dig his own grave by being too controlling? After getting Silva elected as president, he may well have hoped to “remote control” the administration. But Silva, a close loyalist for decades, wasn’t happy. This reached a boiling point when Sumathipala and his camp opposed Silva’s decision to sack Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha and Asanka Gurusinha, SLC’s High Performance Manager, on the Sports Minister’s request.
Hathurusingha and Gurusinha were both hired during Sumathipala’s stewardship. They were paid exorbitantly. Given their performance in their respective roles, however, there are many who support their exit including the Minister of Sports.
Sumathipala thinks otherwise. This caused heated arguments between him and Silva. But the incumbent president, with Sports Minister Harin Fernando firmly behind him, looks set to win the battle.
While SLC is still negotiating to remove Hathurusingha, 18 months after he was enticed to take over the high profile job, the Executive Committee has finally agreed to send Gurusinha out. The Ex Co had previously decided to grant him a two year extension against Silva’s wishes after Sumathipala got a resolution passed to this effect. This went down badly with Silva, who in turn prevailed upon the Sports Minister to issue a directive effectively shutting the door on Gurusinha.