Sumathipala lists positives of SLC in dismal results year

By Madushka Balasuriya

Thilanga Sumathipala attempted to put a positive spin on a dismal year for Sri Lanka Cricket, as he used the first Extraordinary General Meeting of the year on Sunday to draw attention to off-field successes in lieu of any noteworthy on-field ones.

Sri Lanka won four and lost seven of 13 Tests this year, while in limited overs contests the team lost 23 out of their 28 ODIs and 10 of their 15 T20Is. As such the SLC President was quick to shift focus to SLC’s present financial standing which he claimed was currently profitable.

“When we took over two years ago, SLC was in debt for a sum of Rs. 5 billion and we were in a quandary as to how we were going to turn around SLC. Now, after two years, I am happy to say we are making profits,” an SLC press release quoted Sumathipala as saying.

The release went on to note that through “the efforts [Sumathipala] made to strengthen the relationship with other [ICC] members” he had managed to increase the ICCs allocated payments for its members from $ 80 million to $ 120 million, “thus raising the SLC’s revenue drastically.”

“Sri Lanka Cricket is now financially stable with a steady flow of revenue coming from different sources, while the organisation has ensured that financial accountability is maintained at every level, with prudent mechanisms put in place for monitoring,” the release continued.

While the lack of publicly available SLC financial records for 2017 makes it impossible to gain a clear understanding of the exact financial situation, last year was always set to be a profitable one with considerable windfalls coming SLC’s way as a result of the ICC Champions Trophy in England and two bilateral series involving India.  In fact, the presence of an ICC event meant that 2017 was a year that Sumathipala’s predecessor Sidath Wettimuny, in his then capacity as Interim Committee Chairman, had flagged back in 2015 as a year where “there is a lot of money due.”

Sumathipala also provided an update on the establishment of the Asset Management Company (AMC) that was announced last May, which was expected to ease the SLC Executive Committee’s (ExCo) workload so as to allow them to focus primarily on governing and developing the game in the country.

“Mr. Sumathipala said plans are underway to establish an asset management firm as a subsidiary of Sri Lanka Cricket to better manage cash flows of SLC’s major assets. He said the money generated out of the SLC asset management operations will be utilised to finance the maintenance of SLC facilities across the country, which as of now incurs millions and is borne out by the revenues generated by the SLC,” the release stated.

Grassroots improvements 

Moving away from the financial side of things, Sumathipala also shed light on moves to decentralise powers to the district and provincial associations.

“When we took over, SLC was controlling 132 clubs, now we have brought them down to 24 and decentralised the power to provincial and district associations, thus giving them decision-making powers,” the release quoted him as saying.

“Steps were taken to bring in the age level cricket starting from Under 15, 17, 19, 21 and 23, from both district and provincial level cricket under the direct supervision of the SLC to ensure that grassroots level cricket development stays in line with SLC’s vision. Steps were also taken to enhance the knowledge level of local coaches by sending selected coaches for overseas training programs,” it continued.

The release concluded by drawing attention to the actions taken by SLC to look after players in the national set up such as the introduction of “a strong insurance cover for the national players, which is on par with any other international cricketer”, the introduction of a “performance-based bonus system for players” and the provision of contracts to 70 first-class cricketers.