Finger-wagging Ranatunga takes fresh swipe at country’s cricketing woes

Former Sri Lanka cricket captain and current Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga once again issued a stern warning about the state of the country’s cricket during a recent visit to the Sri Dalada Maligawa, saying that prompt action needed to be taken to halt Sri Lanka’s present international freefall in the sport.

“Cricket is going from bad to worse and immediate steps need to be taken to safeguard the country and cricket from death. I do not want to take any position by force and my intention is not to make money from cricket but I want to give something back from what I have learnt from cricket,” Ranatunga told the assembled members of the media. 

“Since the Sports Minister is not taking any action I will explain in detail to the President and the Prime Minister. The Sports Minister is putting an interim committee in many sports bodies, why not for cricket?” he asked.

He went on to assert that Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara was hesitant to take definitive action to remedy the situation as he faced pressure from the country’s present cricket administrators. Ranatunga concluded his denunciation of the state of Sri Lanka’s cricketing affairs by revealing that he had a plan to restore the sport to its former glory.

Previously, Ranatunga and Jayasekara got into a heated verbal exchange in Parliament following the national cricket team’s dismal showing in their series against a touring Indian side which routed them in all formats of the game. In the immediate aftermath of that performance Ranatunga wrote to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe about the issues afflicting Sri Lankan cricket.(SJ)

Pix by Ashen Dissanayake