5th Column

My dear Roshan,

It is unusual to write about cricket for a second week running, but I must write to you as you are the person in the hot seat now. Last week, we wrote of how Sri Lankan Cricket died, murdered by SLC or Shammi’s Limited Company. The International Cricket Conference (ICC) has just confirmed that.

We knew that there was trouble brewing in SLC for some time. Some cricketers were suspended for smoking and others were charged with more serious offences. That was only a symptom of the greater malaise that affected the game: indiscipline among the players and indifference from administrators.

The administrators were otherwise busy, doing deals on the side. They knew they couldn’t be removed if they kept their cronies and the smaller cricket clubs happy. Like everything else in our Paradise, as long as we were able to survive on the global stage, the public too didn’t seem to mind that much.

Just as we were happy with our rulers for 75 years and cheered them on till we ran out of fuel, gas and electricity, we cheered our cricket teams too, oblivious to the rot that was setting in a dozen and half years after that glorious World Cup win – until we hit rock bottom at this World Cup.

That is why most people supported you, Roshan, when you decided to sack the SLC run by Shammi and Co this week. Your boss wasn’t pleased. No sooner you made the decision, someone at your boss’s office put the word out that the boss was ‘unaware’ of the decision and that he wasn’t consulted.

Roshan, you said you didn’t tell your boss because, as the law stands, you don’t need to. We know the real reason though: If you told him, he would have asked you not to and your hands would be tied. Instead, you issued the gazette, sacked the lot, appointed an ‘interim’ committee, then announced it.

This ‘interim’ committee is not the best. Arjuna’s inclusion can be justified but many ask why Justice Wijey’s and Governor Muzammil’s sons were included when, what they know about cricket can be written on the border of a postage stamp. You thought you can pacify your boss with that, didn’t you?

We know that your boss was angry and wanted you to reverse your decision but you refused. Sack me if you want, you told him. That was very well played, Roshan. Instead of throwing your wicket away as soon as you walk in like Kusal Mendis, the next day in Parliament you hit out like Glen Maxwell.

The fate that befell your ‘interim’ committee is the same fate that befell Angelo Matthews who was ‘timed out’ by Shakib Al Hasan before he could face a ball. Like Shakib, Shammi appealed to our own umpires. They ruled that the ‘interim committee’ should be restrained before they could do anything.

Shakib was condemned for what he did as it was not in the ‘spirit of the game’ but within the law, and Angelo did point out that the umpires may have erred. Like Shakib, what Shammi did was not the best but within the law. It is hard to decide who the public in Paradise hates more, Shakib or Shammi!

You got Parliament to endorse Shammi’s sacking. That forced your boss to go on the backfoot. Now he says that he will support a new Constitution for the game. Isn’t he aware that even that – as well as an inquiry into the incident at the T20 World Cup last year – have been stayed after ‘appeals’ by Shammi?

You said your boss will have to make a choice between ‘soodu’ Shammi or you. We don’t agree with your politics with the ‘pohottuwa’, Roshan, but you seem to be making a habit of clashing with big bosses: you clashed with Aiyo Sirisena as well. We admire that courage which others ministers lack.

I hope you were prepared for the ICC suspending us. The story goes that it was the SLC which asked for the suspension. It seems Shammi and Co are willing to cut their noses to spite their faces. It goes to show what they really love, Sri Lankan cricket or themselves and what – or how much – is at stake.

Your boss said, Roshan, that if the ICC suspends us, he will take over your subject. So, by the time you read this, you may not be the Sports Minister. Even if that happens, all is not lost: At the next polls, your poster will say ‘cricket beraagath Roshan’ and you may get more votes than Aiyo Sirisena!

Kusal, who said ‘why I want to congratulations?’ when asked whether he would congratulate Virat Kohli on scoring centuries, also says he is ‘not in control’ of what happens at matches. You too can rest easy now, Roshan: this is also not a match you can control now, though you did try your best.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: At the end of all this, we do hope Sri Lankan Cricket will be resurrected. For that to happen, we will need the help of many people just as much as we will need to get rid of many others, including ‘Karu’ whose appeals are deadlier that Shakib’s – and no, I’m not talking about Dimuth or Chamika!