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| RUNNING CRICKET ? |
This is not the first occasion on which an entire community has been enveloped in utter despair without even knowing how to battle the evil forces that are trying to destroy the very structures that they have strived to build through the time line.
At present it is not only from one face that the Lankan cricket structure is cracked, dented, broken or completely destroyed. Within the past few months it has been battered and rammed from all sides and the worst is that the ramming has come from within the citadel and not from any outside source.
At the end one could hear a cry of despair from the very heart of Sri Lankan Cricket which named as the Interim Committee. The disgruntled voice says “The Lankan Interim Committee treasurer is the treasurer of the World Cup Organizing Committee. Then it is the secretary of the Interim Committee who is the normally accredited person to be present at a forum that pertains to the mechanism of the World Cup. Then it is the CEO of Sri Lankan cricket who handles the day-to-day intricacies and the administration at fronts. But, the person who sent for an important World Cup organizing meeting is a general member -- Guy de Alwis whose understanding on the matter is limited as yours and mine. But, he attends the WCOC over the others. The reason being the Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga has designated de Alwis as his nominee in his absence. May be as the chairman he has the right to do so, but as a committee when a thing of that nature occurs the whole trend begins to flow against the tide”.
This is a glaring example of how Lankan cricket is flowing at the moment. The interim committee which is appointed by the Minister to guide this most popular game which has brought many accolades is now a divided entity working with no agenda and going nowhere.
The breach between the SLC Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga and the players has become an open issue and has criticized them at many open forums. In the same breath a very senior Lankan cricketer who is now in Zimbabwe performing his national duties lamented “Only we know the pressure that he has put us through. Not only that, he is criticizing us, he is also using various other vehicles to put our morale down. In my whole career as a national cricketer I have never felt this pressure before. The only question that we want to ask him is …… What have we done to him personally for him to take such an attitude? I hope all this will end very soon!”
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| Aravinda de Silva along with Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar and former England captain Michael Atherton at an ICC meeting. |
This is a very serious narration that depicts the utter despair that they are undergoing.
In another front the 2011 World Cup is on the road where Sri Lanka is a major player with nine of its matches including a semi-final on the line.
But, what has been Sri Lanka’s contribution so far towards this collective exercise? First the SLC Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga upsets the Indian apple cart with untimely utterances and indifferences that were uncalled for.
A few weeks ago at a press conference held at the SLC headquarters and on Wednesday in his capacity as a member of parliament Ranatunga made a series of allegations against the previous cricket administrations to which the answers have been given by those whom he has named. At the same time Ranatunga also has blamed the Minister of Sports for having been inactive amidst all these allegations and some others that has involved non-cricket matters.
At the same time he also has whined that he is compelled to work along with a set of dishonest committee members and asked for a new committee to carry on with his progress plan. However wasn’t Aravinda de Silva who was his deputy and right hand-man (or can we called it brains behind upon the boundary lines) during his playing days taken into the interim committee the same day that Ranatunga was appointed? Then why has he also been side lined? Ranatunga has gone on record that there is a lot that Aravinda de Silva could contribute towards Lankan cricket. Then de Silva was also a vice president of the Administrations run by former SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala and Mohan de Silva which depicts that he has ample administrative experience.
The question that arises then is as to why Ranatunga prefers to appoint a person sans the credentials that de Silva possesses to take over the mantle in his absence.
If Ranatunga argues that he has no faith in the old brigade and only in the persons that were nominated along with him, then why was Aravinda de Silva not sent to the ICC meetings with regard to the 2011 World Cup? Surely de Silva a member of a former ICC Cricket Council would have much more clout and muster much more respect than Guy de Alwis in a forum of that nature. The argument of Ranatunga being compelled to work with an old brigade that is incompatible with his outlook towards cricket is nullified by this action to a great extent.
In reality Sri Lanka Cricket is there to run and administer the game of cricket in this country. In the running of the game, the Premier League Cricket tournament – the foremost cricket tournament that is established in Sri Lanka only began after about a month’s lapse. Then in administration there is no head to the tournament committee that is appointed to run the local cricket in this country. For local and overseas tours there is an appointed set of people who are responsible. Ironically after the Indian tour the tournament committee was disbanded soon after Indian cricket tour of Sri Lanka. The funny part is that the Sri Lanka Cricket team is abroad now in Zimbabwe without the services of a Tour Organizing Committee to assist the administration.
The only progressive thing that has happened along the way is that SLC chairman Ranatunga has travelled abroad on eighteen occasions since taking over the mantle of cricket on 1st January 2008. |
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