2023 a turbulent year for cricket

Kusal Mendis scored runs in all three formats

Dilshan Madushanka, the find of the year for Sri Lanka

Pathum Nissanka, 1,000 runs in ODI cricket

Sadeera Samarawickrama memorable return to international cricket 

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka cricket went through a turbulent year with the national sports body for the sport Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) at loggerheads with the former Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe and the national team not performing to the best of its ability.

The constant running battle between the two factions (SLC and the Sports Minister) eventually led to the International Cricket Council (ICC) suspending Sri Lanka’s membership and the country losing a wonderful opportunity of hosting an ICC world event, the Under19 World Cup that was subsequently given to South Africa.

As though the country did not have any other important topics to discuss, the cricket fracas even spilt into Parliament and three days were wasted with politicians who knew very little about cricket also voicing their opinions and rather unnecessarily arousing a public outcry for the current elected members of SLC to step down.

Shammi Silva was re-elected president of Sri Lanka Cricket for a third consecutive term. SLC and the former Sports Minister had a good rapport at the beginning, but all that changed with the appointment of former Sri Lanka World Cup winning captain of 1996 Arjuna Ranatunga to the post of National Sports Council chairman. Allegations of corruption and mismanagement were brought against SLC by a committee appointed by the Sports Minister to probe into the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. The situation was further compounded when Sri Lanka was shot out for 50 in the Asia Cup final played in Colombo and deepened when Sri Lanka once again succumbed to India for 55 in a 2023 World Cup league match. No one expected the young and inexperienced Sri Lanka team to reach the semi-finals, but their losses to Pakistan after rattling off an impressive 344-9, Afghanistan and Bangladesh saw them finish a poor ninth out of ten teams in the league standings and thereby fail to qualify for a place in the eight-nation ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan in 2025. These on-field losses were used as opportunities to gain political mileage.

The off-field cricket battle was brought to rest when President Ranil Wickremesinghe stripped Ranasinghe of all his portfolios and appointed Tourism and Lands Minister Harin Fernando as Sports Minister. Fernando wasted no time, and his priority was to get the ICC suspension on Sri Lanka lifted and accordingly, he nullified the Gazette notice aimed at appointing an interim committee brought by the former Sports Minister. Sri Lanka Cricket is hopeful that with this move the ICC would lift the suspension at its next meeting.

Minister Fernando also replaced Ranatunga with Dr Maiya Gunasekara of rugby fame as chairman of the National Sports Council and appointed a new set of national cricket selectors headed by former Sri Lanka ODI captain Upul Tharanga, comprising past national cricketers Dilruwan Perera, Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavithana and Indika de Saram. Another former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya was given the task of putting right the SLC High Performance Centre at Khettarama by appointing him as cricket consultant.

With these changes Sri Lanka hopefully looks forward to a better and much improved performance on the field in 2024 with the new selection committee expected to make changes to the captaincy in the different formats.

For the first time in their history former World Cup champions Sri Lanka whose white ball form had declined over the years had to qualify for a place in the 2023 World Cup in India, which they did successfully defeating the Netherlands in the final of the Qualifier.

Sri Lanka played only six Test matches for the entire year and the paucity didn’t go down well with senior cricketers and Test match specialists like captain Dimuth Karunaratne, former captains Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Prabath Jayasuriya who expressed their disappointment on different platforms how hard it was for them to stay focused for a year just to play only a handful of Tests. Year 2024 looks marginally brighter with Sri Lanka scheduled to play 10 Tests.

Karunaratne continued to be the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka in Tests during the calendar year, and Kusal Mendis showed his prowess with the bat in all three formats, eventually succeeding Dasun Shanaka as captain of the ODI team in the World Cup. Opener Pathum Nissanka had a wonderful white ball year reaching 1,000 runs in ODI cricket, while Sadeera Samarawickrama made a memorable return to international cricket after three years in both red ball and white ball cricket. However, the find for Sri Lanka was 23-year-old left-arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka who finished the year with 31 ODI wickets, 21 of them coming in the World Cup making him the third highest wicket-taker in the tournament.    

Two players retired from Test cricket, leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga at the age of 26 to concentrate on playing white ball and franchise cricket and top order batsman Lahiru Thirimanne at 33.

Sri Lanka cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka who was detained in Australia during the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in a sexual assault case was later found not guilty and allowed to return to domestic cricket and international cricket with SLC lifting the ban imposed on him during the legal proceedings. Likewise, his club SSC also lifted the ban on him and he made his first competitive appearance after almost a year in the ongoing Major Club Limited Overs tournament.  

Former Sri Lanka cricketer Sachitra Senanayake was arrested on allegations of match fixing during the Lanka Premier League in 2020 and was later released on bail.  

Another former Sri Lanka cricketer and hero of the 1996 World Cup winning side Aravinda de Silva was honoured by the ICC by being inducted to the ICC Hall of Fame during the 2023 World Cup in India. He became the fourth Sri Lankan to be so honoured.

On a sad note, Sri Lanka lost its one-man cheer squad for more than five decades Percy Abeysekera affectionately known as “Uncle Percy” who passed away at the age of 87.