5th Column

My dear Namal baby,

I thought I should write to you because everyone is concerned about something that is very near and dear to most of us and they are relying on you to ensure that it stays that way. No, I am not thinking of the ‘Royal family’ of which you are the Crown Prince, but the future of Sri Lanka cricket.

You don’t have to be a genius to realise that our cricket is at its lowest point in half a century, 25 years after Captain Cool led our country to its highest-ever sporting honour, winning the World Cup defeating Australia. You may not recall that event because you were not even 10 years old then!

Seven years ago, we were world champions of the shortest format of the game, the T20. Now we are not even among the top 8 nations of the world. We have been asked to play some ‘qualifying’ matches to see whether we can make it to the top 12 countries which take part in the tournament.

So, we are playing against countries such as Namibia to see whether we can beat them. This is worse than what it was over 40 years ago when Sri Lanka had to qualify to play in the World Cup. On that occasion, we went on to win the ICC trophy and become a force to be reckoned with in world cricket.

This year, we have so far lost a series to Bangladesh and England – and most of the games haven’t even been close. Our neighbour, India, is adding insult to injury by sending a ‘second eleven’ to play against our national team while the Kohlis, Sharmas and Ashwins are due to do battle for them in England!

Namal baby, it is not as if you have to work out what has gone wrong. Some of the greatest cricketing brains in the country have told us what needs to be done. They have said the structure of our domestic cricket is aimed at electing the same people into office – not improving the standard of the game.

That is indeed what has happened. This is why we see the same dark horses running the game in the country year after year. Even when they are told that they cannot run for office at Sri Lanka Cricket, you can’t stop them – they will select a puppet who will run as a proxy for the dark horse – and win!

This year, when we performed poorly against teams like Bangladesh, there was much soul searching. There was talk about revamping our cricket. Many hoped you would put us out of our misery and get cricket back on the right track – especially with Sri Lanka Cricket elections then being on the cards.

You did appoint a couple of committees, but as we all know, Namal baby, we can’t see our cricket improving yet. In fact, I daresay it has got worse. Our cricketers now seem to be going on overseas tours not to represent their country or play cricket – but to smoke cigarettes!

Captain Cool hit the nail on the head when he said that if you can’t fix this, no one can. He said so, not because he thought you possessed any special powers or exceptional skills, but because of who you are – your father is the Prime Minister and your uncle is the President, so no one will oppose you.

Sadly, we have seen nothing of that sort so far. The same people are still in charge of cricket and we keep producing the same results. You can go to your nearest bookie – and there are many of them dabbling in cricket now – and bet your MP’s pension that we will lose to India’s second eleven too.

I am sure you would like to believe that you were given your Youth Affairs and Sports portfolio because you are qualified for the job, and not because of your surname. After all, at 35, you are still a ‘youth’ by the standard of our politicians, and you were sportsman in your younger days.

I hope you realise that cricket is something very near and dear to many of us in Paradise. It is one of the few things that we have excelled at in the world. It is also what kept the country together even during times of war. It seems as if its fate has now become your responsibility.

It may also be what people judge you by – if you want to become someone more than just a minister, one day. Your father won the war. Your uncle helped him. They are remembered for that. You don’t want to be remembered as the minister who watched while cricket died, would you, Namal baby?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Someone said that, had Basil baappa been around, fuel prices wouldn’t be increased. Maybe you can get him to help you. If he can turn the game around and make our team consistently win again, most people wouldn’t mind – even if it cost them ten per cent more to watch a game where we win!