Why has international sport become a multimillion-dollar industry today? Because the rest of the populace watches it and it is a vital component in their ‘steam out’ process to ease off pressures of city life.
So the sportsmen are a set of entertainers who depend upon a following to their performances. To keep the people watching their indulgence they have to keep their acts at a very high level; if not the people would stop watching them performing and the whole cookie crumbles.
In Sri Lanka and the Indian sub-continent, it is cricket. It has become the pinnacle of entertainment to its population and the people watching it are couple of billions and in Sri Lanka it is more or less a twenty million.
Yet this twenty million is bewildered, because the cricket in this country is in clear jeopardy. The problem is there is an ever growing gap between the prevailing local cricket system and the call for the supply of quality international cricketers to the only sport that Sri Lanka excels in. Yet no answer is forthcoming. Backbiting and camp swarming are the order of the day rather than a sane approach to a problem that needs a clear answer.
During the last two weeks, two cricketers of repute spoke of two different views though agreeing that an urgent solution is needed. But there is apparently no clear solution at hand.
So we approached another stalwart – none other Michael Tissera who led the last Cricket Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket before it was disbanded. (Apparently Tissera has refused his new appointment as the head of the Cricket Committee which was offered to him prior to SLC setting the alternate one which met for the first time on Thursday).
Michael Tissera who is also a former Sri Lanka cricket captain started his narration saying, “When we were playing club cricket there were eight teams. Then it became ten and then twelve and then it went up to twenty – now there are two tiers.
“Why we are saying that there should be a provincial tournament is that because we think that there should be a tournament between the club tournament and international cricket. I think the best way of doing that is the formation of the provincial tournament. If you are playing ten teams or twelve teams in tier ‘A’ that is about 130 cricketers. Yet if you play the provincial tournament among five teams there are only 60 cricketers involved. Presumably those five teams of a more equal strength and the games will be more intense.
“This is what we have been talking to a few players like Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara etc. For instance Muttiah Muralitharan was very happy with the provincial tournament a few years ago. But, every year this keeps changing. They don’t give the provincial tournament a window.”
So much so when the SLC administrative committee changed, Tissera had confided in one his colleagues that one of the first things that the new SLC committee would do is to scrap the provincial tournament.
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| ‘They don’t give the provincial tournament a window’ - Michael Tissera. (Pic by Amila Prabodha) |
He added, “There are these arguments saying that there is too much cricket. But I do not buy that. You have six months from October to March. If you plan it properly you can have your club tournament in October-November, the club limited overs in December, a provincial 4-day tournament in January-February and the Provincial Limited overs tournament in March.
“Then once you play your club cricket tournament the best 60-65 cricketers will filter on to the Provincial tournament and then you will have the best available talent in the fray in an intense tournament”. Tissera said.
Once again the topic came about the international players while playing in Sri Lanka finding only about one or two bowlers in a club team. In a provincial team one could find 3-4 good bowlers operating in tandem. He added “That is the difference”.
The other factor in Club cricket Tissera mentioned was about the non-inclusion of clubs in Kurunegala, Kandy and Galle in the major tournament. “Sidath (Wettimuny) was trying to get this cluster of clubs to look after the province. Some people were quite happy about it. But, we were thinking further when we were in the Cricket Committee. During that last interim committee we were trying to get Kandy, Kurunegala and Galle into the higher club system and to recommend to the board that they give these clubs a grant so that they can buy a few players. If they buy 2-3 players they could improve their standards. If not all the cricket is played in Colombo”.
He pointed out that we do possess grounds at various points in outstation. He said, “Dambulla is doing nothing. We do not know how much cricket is played at the Kurunegala Stadium. They do have some schools and clubs playing cricket in Kurunegala. Kandy now has Pallekele. The Galle cricket Stadium is there. There is a Stadium in Hambantota too. So unless we get more intensity to the provinces we may fail. There is an argument to the effect that everybody has to come to Colombo to get employment, but what we say is if you could have a good Provincial Cricket tournament and you run it properly, the people in the provinces will get interested. There are a lot of firms moving out of Colombo. They even might be interested in sponsoring those teams”.
Then the musing asked Tissera about the 90 cricketers that the Board has under its contract and if these cricketers were professionals living solely off the game. And if the answer was yes why couldn’t the system use it to propagate the Provincial system. You could sign them provincially according to their hometown and get them to represent the respective provinces. Tissera explained, “First the argument is that the Colombo clubs are more organized. Yet, this concept would be a good criterion to the provincial system.”
Then the musing pointed about the hidden fear psychosis. We asked about the clubs fearing about losing their present status with the advent of provincial Cricket at that scale and the hold that they have in it when it comes to the administrative process. Tissera said, “Definitely. There are a few people who control the clubs. They cannot see beyond the club system. Yet it is possible that they may lose their hold.”
The next question by musing was – if the provincial cricket is the premier tournament and the onus is on the provincial tournament the administrators of the provincial system may become more powerful than the club administrators. Tissera answered, “Yes, but at the same time the plan was to have five clubs helping out a province and some of those officials to run the Provinces. Then automatically the club officials would have got involved in that system.” |
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