They don’t like cricket – they ‘love’ it
Allegations against the SLC hierarchy over abuse of power, resulted in police officers having to guard its headquarters prior to a public protest last week
Amidst a furore over an alleged abuse of power by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) hierarchy during last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, Sri Lanka’s cricketers produced gutless performance to suffer their heaviest loss—a 222-run defeat in the second Test against Pakistan—making an inauspicious start to the new World Test Championships cycle.
The series defeat was unexpected, given how the Test team had gone about their business in the previous cycle. It raised many questions over Sri Lanka’s ability to challenge top-ranked teams. Spiritless batting coupled with average bowling and atrocious fielding sums up Sri Lanka’s embarrassing performance in the series that extended Sri Lanka’s nine-year wait for a series win against their South Asian neighbour at home.
While SLC needs to re-evaluate their overall cricketing strategy, which is their main responsibility, those bureaucrats at its Maitland Place headquarters are battling a public outcry over their alleged misuse of power for personal benefit.
A draft audit report on SLC’s expenditure at last year’s T20 World Cup leaked to the media last week highlights several incidents of abuse of power, misuse of funds and procedural errors pertaining to the said tournament.
The details are in the public domain, although the final report is yet to be completed. It is no secret that SLC usually takes a plane load of officials, including their kith and kin, for these cricketing spectacles.
Its President Shammi Silva claimed this is the only privilege they enjoy for the ‘honorary’ service they render. This happened in the past, happens today and will happen in the future, unless men of integrity take charge.
“This is not Government money. Some think that it is public money which is not so. This is our membership money and our membership has every right to attend world cups at SLC expense,” said Silva at the press conference.
The draft report, which the Auditor General has said is accurate and was prepared based on official documents they received from relevant parties, now needs SLC’s responses to the alleged findings. It shows that SLC pumped out several millions for these joyrides and to facilitate the travel of many non-cricketing individuals to Australia.
The money meant for the development of the sport was lavishly spent on ferrying these officials to watch World Cup matches in Australia (some on business class tickets worth over Rs.2mn and per diems of US$ 700 a day). This is all for the ‘honourary service’ they discharged to ‘develop’ cricket–a sport that has seen a steady decline in recent years.
Silva, at a hurriedly organised press conference on Tuesday, claimed they have spent a small portion of their annual budget on the ExCo. He said a bank balance of US$ 35mn was carefully collected over the last five years to make SLC the richest sports body in the country.
Does this mean they can misuse the funds? His argument that SLC funds are not public funds and, as such, they can spend the money on their whim and fancy is not only baseless argument but also shows how egoistic these individuals are.
Silva must be reminded that SLC is one of the many national sports associations registered with the Sports Ministry under the Sports Law and is audited by the National Audit Office. While their independence is respected, it should not be considered a blank cheque to deviate from their objectives.
Silva also admitted giving visa support letters to friends and families who have no connection with SLC. When the Sunday Times questioned whether any Tom, Dick and Harry could get a visa support letter when traveling to watch matches, he said ‘no’–but it had been a ‘yes’ to his close circle of friends.
Cricket is not about those at the SLC but about the many who toil to become champion cricketers in every corner of the country, without whom the existence of those at SLC becomes purposeless. Cricket doesn’t need them but they need cricket for survival.