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Sri Lanka’s failure to enter the Super 8 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will naturally disappoint the country’s cricket fans no end. The why and wherefore of the ignominious exit of the team in the first round of the tournament will no doubt be the subject of discussion and analysis in the days to come.

The cricketers who represented the country will be the first in the firing line for their performance on the field. However, it is important that they not be unjustly targeted for faults that may lie elsewhere. 

Success and failure in sports come in cycles and need to be accepted with grace not  only by players but also by sports fans. However, with increasing professionalism, the pressure on sportsmen is much greater – thus also impacting on their performance.

No sportsman worth his salt will under-perform when given the chance to represent his country. His pride in wearing the country’s jersey and his own progression in the game will be sufficient to motivate him to give off his best. And that is what almost all cricketers have done when playing for the country except a rare few who may have succumbed to the corruption that has entered world cricket today.

Lankan fans too have behaved exceptionally well while expressing their disapproval whenever the cricketers have failed. They have never acted emotionally against the cricketers unlike their counterparts in India and Pakistan.

However, when it comes to national cricket there has to be accountability, because it has been one of the sources of pride for the nation in the past three decades. Besides, international cricket is one of the sources of foreign exchange which has been in short supply in the country. It is therefore a must that all steps be taken to ensure that those in charge of cricket administration are called to account for any failures that contributed to the team’s drop in performance.

Many media personalities as well as cricket buffs have drawn attention to the impact that travel arrangements and match venues may have had on the team’s performance. Even the Minister of Sports was constrained to admit that the ICC had given the country a raw deal. Whether the ICC creating a level playing field would have made a difference to the results is speculative – but the failure to take prior action by the Lankan administrators to question the logistical arrangements needs to be probed.

The ICC’s treatment of the country may have had something to do with the servile behaviour of the Government with the ICC during the Roshan Ranasinghe episode and Sri Lanka Cricket being protected by the Government during and after the controversy.

It is over six months since the events that led to the exit of the then Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, following the controversy generated by the audit report relating to
Sri Lanka Cricket. The succeeding Sports Minister Harin Fernando sent the audit report to the ICC for its observations in a bid to do damage control. There has been no news of the audit report and ICC observations, if any, which have been swept under the carpet.

Retired Supreme Court Judge K T Chitrasiri drafted a new Constitution for Sri Lanka Cricket designed to result in a change of the cricket governance structure. Among the features of the comprehensive constitution drafted by Justice Chitrasiri were provisions that would have brought in transparency to Sri Lanka Cricket, and also more professionals to run the Board.

Most cricket enthusiasts expected that the Chitrasiri Constitution would be incorporated into an Act of Parliament urgently given that the Opposition too had pledged to support such a law.

For a Government that boasts that it has passed so many laws in Parliament during the last one year, the fact that it has not legislated into law an Act drafted by a retired Supreme Court Judge over six months ago must mean something.

A comprehensive and independent probe must be launched into Sri Lanka’s performance at the T20 ICC Men’s World Cup. If it is found that failures in the administration of cricket had contributed to the disappointing performance of the team, clearly the Government will have to take much of the blame for not having taken remedial measures by enacting the Justice Chitrasiri draft into law.

If the Sri Lanka flag is to be kept flying in the international cricket arena, radical changes will have to be brought into effect urgently in Cricket Governance. While professionals with integrity may be appointed to steer Cricket administration, they will have to obtain the advice and assistance of cricket professionals to ensure that the national teams hold their own with other cricketing nations of the world.

The young Sri Lankan team should not be blamed and made a scapegoat for the failures of Sri Lanka Cricket. As has been repeatedly stated, success has many fathers but failures are orphans. This was evident when Sri Lankan politicians chartered a plane to Lahore in 1996 to bask in the glory that Arjuna Ranatunga and his men brought to the country by winning the World Cup.

Today it is time for the Government and Sri Lanka Cricket to man up and take responsibility for administrative and governance failures that resulted in the country’s early exit from the T20 World Cup of 2024.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)