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Saturday Nov 16, 2024
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By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which underwent a turbulent last six months due to unwarranted interferences from interested parties trying to sneak into the body to fulfil their own private agendas, are confident that with the intervention of the International Cricket Council (ICC) saner counsel has prevailed and they could go into another two-year term without any hindrance.
The 62nd Annual General Meeting of SLC takes place at the Hilton Colombo Residences, Union Place, Colombo 2 at 10 a.m. today with the incumbent office-bearers due to be elected uncontested for another two-year term.
Reflecting on the past two years former SLC President and current Secretary Mohan de Silva said: “We are quite happy the way things have worked out despite many challenges. Since last September we have been going through a lot of unwanted harassment. Soon after the T20 World Cup and incidents that took place in Australia we were confronted with various challenges, unnecessary interference, ridiculing and vilifying SLC. Even the captain was subject to harassment, but we were always confident that we had not done anything wrong.”
“There were individuals who were unable to come through the democratic process pushing the Sports Minister to dissolve SLC and appoint an interim committee. We had no option but to officially complain to the ICC in writing. The ICC appointed a three-member committee to look into our grievances. We are happy that the ICC representatives were able to come when we complained about unwarranted interferences. They gave us a hearing and sent the Vice Chairman Imran Khawaja and another responsible employee on a fact finding mission. We can fearlessly say that we are prepared to face any consequences for any misappropriation of funds or irregularities that can be proved. We must first see what they are and given an opportunity to answer them, they can take the process from there onwards, even for legal action. But these false accusations and trying to ruin our reputation will not do any good for the game, the Institution or the country as there will be long term ramifications where the cricket loving public will look at us with crooked eyes. It is very bad for the reputation of the institution and also for our sponsors.”
“We are happy that there is some sanity prevailing and the Sports Minister has a better understanding of the situation now. We have been working with Sports Ministers in the past and SLC has never undergone this sort of harassment before, not to this extent. This is despite assisting the Sports Ministry by giving them large sums of money. But I am happy to state that going into another term in office we are confident the way things have worked out so far despite the obstacles that have been put in our path to progress. We are looking forward to working independently with the Sports Minister. We should have the right to make decisions independently. We take them in the interest of the game and the country.”
Creating a pathway for young cricketers
De Silva had a word of praise for the incumbent President Shammi Silva whom he said provided good leadership and maintained excellent rapport with the Asian counterparts particularly, India. “You’ve got to go with India; they actually generate 85 percent of the revenue of the ICC. All of us benefit because of that. We gained a lot through the dollar appreciation. It was one of the contributing factors for SLC recording a record surplus of Rs. 6.3 billion. We are very happy with what we have achieved. We have a long term strategic plan and we have created a pathway for our young cricketers to elevate to the national level and have engaged Tim McCaskill who was the former High Performance Manager, Cricket Victoria, to head our High Performance Centre. He is the one preparing the pyramid and the pathway in consultation with the administration from school to reach national level. We have also given a lot of opportunities during the last two years to develop the skills of Emerging and ‘A’ team players to advance to national status.”
Lack of professionalism
“The national team has not been consistent due to various reasons. We have been concentrating on building up a young team in the last three years. We have succeeded to some extent but we are not happy with their performance up to now as they have not been able to play to their true potential. The fact remains that we won the Asia Cup beating some of the strongest teams both India and Pakistan, but unfortunately since then we failed to get into the next round in the T20 World Cup. We’ve had several discussions of how we can further enhance the performance of the national team. Enhancing the national team players’ mental strength and introducing more professionalism and also guiding them in their careers. They have the skills but the real professionalism and the overall refinement to compete at the highest level with the rest of the world is lacking. In 50-over cricket we have not fared well and not played to our true potential. It’s not that we don’t have the players but we lack the temperament, professionalism and the intelligence to understand game situations and to adapt to such situations. We are taking new steps like strengthening the academy at Khettarama and getting responsible people to make them accountable if the players don’t perform and the team fails. We have also been getting better coaching staff from time to time. Mahela (Jayawardene) has contributed a lot not only to the national team but from under-19 level upwards. With his experience and vast knowledge of the game, he has been an asset to us contributing a lot and we appreciate his contribution.”
Reducing the number of votes
De Silva stated that SLC is conscious of the necessity to introduce reforms to its constitution to reduce the number of votes which at present stands at a staggering 145.
“There is a lot of accusation on SLC for having such a large number of votes but unfortunately our constitution has provided the membership to attain that status over a period of time. There are so many controlling clubs who do not play cricket at a higher level, but enjoy two votes. We are also not happy with these disparities. That is why we are also trying to introduce reforms in a democratic and acceptable manner without trying to hijack the rights and privileges of the membership. Since the year 2000 I can very responsibly say that we have never given new membership to anyone. Even where the SLC constitution provides for clubs winning championships could elevate to a higher level and enjoy a higher status with an additional vote etc., we have refrained from these status changes for quite some time now. We have also appointed a 10-member committee and have requested them to come up with a viable and acceptable proposal. In consultation with the Sports Ministry we are thinking of arriving at an acceptable solution on how to reduce the number of votes. We also have to get two-thirds majority from the membership and we have to convince them of the importance of doing the same for the sake of the game.
