All’s fair in love and war! Let’s play the game and win their hearts!

By Rypvanwinkle

My Dear Captain Cool,
I thought I must write to you now that you have been appointed to the most sought after position in this country after the presidency-the head of the board that governs cricket in Sri Lanka.

I have always thought that when people who have distinguished themselves in other fields enter politics, they generally make a fool of themselves. Remember our two late silver screen heroes who took to politics-and both of them didn’t achieve greatness in their new found roles which is why I worry about you too, Captain Cool...

Of course, our best memories of you are as the leader of our cricket team and it is doubtful whether that can be improved on. The manner in which you defended Murali in particular when he was being targeted in Australia with calls of chucking was just one example of your leadership skills and we respect you enormously for that.

We also know that your greatest moment was winning the World Cup twelve years ago and it is likely that it will remain our greatest triumph in the sporting arena for some time to come. But now you have been given the chance to build on that by improving the game you love so much.

But it is the way in which you got your current job that baffles me a bit, Captain Cool, and that is what I wanted to write to you about.
If memory serves us right, it all began with the vote on the budget debate and there was speculation that you would be voting against the budget and some even went to the extent of saying you would cross over to the green side because you were Satellite’s man rather than being Mahinda maama’s man! And there were those saying that your position was made all the more difficult because your dad was a staunch true blue supporter for many, many years.

Then, there were also rumours that your price for staying with Mahinda maama was the top job at the cricket board and that Mahinda maama had to be pushed and prodded into giving you that job and he eventually did so, just to ensure that he had enough numbers to see the budget through Parliament.

This is all speculation, Captain Cool, but if this is indeed what happened then you seem to have become like Thonda and Rauf, demanding your pound of flesh in return for political support to the government in power and I am not sure that is such a good habit to cultivate.

After all, Captain Cool, we remember you as the captain of a cricket team who always stood up for what he believed to be right regardless of the consequences. And we do know that you had to suffer on more than a handful of occasions for doing just that. So, your present strategy of making demands in return for political favours seems to be at odds with that and that is what concerns us a bit.

But, Captain Cool, we do understand and appreciate your burning desire to put things back on track as far as cricket in this country is concerned. I hope you do realise that the task before you is more difficult than being a mere minister.

We hope that in doing so, you will remember that for several decades now, cricket has been the only thing that has been able to put a smile back on the faces of the people of this country-not ceasefires or peace deals, not the economy and certainly not our politicians. So, we wish you a lot of luck because you will need every bit of it that you can get in your new job!

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS- We have also been told that you are only an ¡interim head. That also seems so appropriate because now everything in this country-political loyalties, ceasefires, governments and indeed life itself-seems to be interim!