Wettimuny assesses his innings

By Malik Gunatilleke

Four months on from being appointed as the Chairman of the Interim Committee to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Sidath Wettimuny summed up the committee’s stint in office and assessed the progress SLC had made in his short tenure, in an interview with the Daily FT.

Wettimuny spoke about the transitional phase that Sri Lankan cricket was going through and revealed the challenges faced on an administrative level to build a sustainable brand despite the politicisation of the sport. 

Following are excerpts:

Chairman of the Interim Committee Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Sidath Wettimuny

Q: How would you sum up the period in which the interim committee has been in place?

A: Constructive. We just completed four months. It’s a battle against time when you know it’s a short period of time. I think we’ve done quite a few things that would take us in the right direction. Looking at it from a strictly cricketing point of view, we have a Test team, an A-team, a ladies team and an Under-19 team. If I start from the bottom up, from the under-19 side, we’ve pruned down the squad to 30 or 37. We’ve lined up a program leading up to the World Cup; structurally and coaching wise. The ladies team we started two months ago and now we have a good setup in place. They needed a physiotherapist and we’ve hired the former Indian physiotherapist as well. I plan to talk with them every month and even Mahela (Jayawardena) spoke with the team. He will also help with a few net sessions.

 

Q: What are the areas that have been focused on in terms of improving our first team?

A: We brought in Jonty (Rhodes) to help us with our fielding. He worked with the players and even more so with the coaches. I believe we need to periodically bring coaches and players so that we give our coaches some additional know-how. We’ve even been talking to Wasim Akram to come in to do a stint with our youngsters.

We are also looking at the possibility of getting a psychologist for a month-long program for our players, coaches and administrators. Right now we are in discussion to get this done because now sports psychology is a very important aspect of the game. I’m really keen to pursue that. The idea was to work with the coaches themselves so they would be better equipped to handle the players.

 

Q: How significant is this period for Sri Lankan cricket as the team undergoes a pivotal transitional phase?

A: The selectors have started blooding a few young players. Obviously we are going through a huge transition with us losing some great players. People talk only about Kumar (Sangakkara) and Mahela but the truth is we lost Muttiah Muralitharan not so long ago along with Chaminda Vaas – who I think is an unsung hero. However, I strongly believe that we will bounce back much faster than people expect. Most people say that we will take a year but I think we’ll bounce back even faster. By the time the West Indian tour takes place, we will see a lot more stability in our team.

 

Q: How important is the India tour for our young players?

A: Every tour is important. The Pakistan tour was an eye-opener which showed us our strengths and weaknesses. India is a top team. It’s going to be a top competition but it will be interesting. We need to keep developing the team until we get the right balance. There will be tweaking here and there until we settle into a formula that works.

 

Q: There are no questions about the talent at hand but what about the fitness of the team?

A: I’m quite confident about the fact that our fitness will fall into place very fast. Our new Fitness Coach Michael (Main) is extremely good. He came into the team in the middle of a tour so it can be a bit difficult but after this tour we have a one month period during which I’m sure it will all fall into place.

 

Q: What are the key factors that would help stabilise a young team?

A: Good management and good vision from the selectors. They have the task of identifying the good players and then they must stick with them.

We are playing two young teams in India and New Zealand next and that will go a long way in improving us as a team. I was wondering whether players like Jeffrey Vandersay could be looked at by maybe Shane Warne or Tharindu Kaushal by Murali.

 

Q: What are some of the key infrastructural developments undertaken by the SLC?

A: We have started building an indoor facility in Kettarama which will prove vital for our cricket as we have five or six teams and you need to have the flexibility of practicing indoor or outdoor. We are coming up with a six-lane facility and we are also planning to build a pool for rehabilitation. This is all going to take time but my objective is to at least get it started so that someone else can finish it.

We have started implementing the same programs in Pallakele and Dambulla because if we want to run cricket in those centres the way we do in Colombo, we will need those facilities in our main bases.

 

Q: Are there any other programs the SLC has implemented within this period?

A: We have started a soft skills program which I’m personally driving forward. We want to develop different skills and broaden the horizons of the players. I’m hoping that even when I’m not here, this program will continue. One of the saddest things that occurs in our setup is that when boards change, even the positive programs that were implemented by the previous board are scrapped.

All our teams are part of this program right down to our under-19 team. Some of our young players come from rural areas and they are not exposed to many things in the city or international cricket. I strongly believe that we need to give them that confidence to face whatever comes their way.

At the grassroots level we built a code of conduct for school cricketers in all three languages and the School Cricket Association has already embraced it and the ICC has also commended it. We will also possibly have inspectors randomly check the implementation of the code at schools.

 

Q: What would this code of conduct contain?

A: It’s similar to the one that the ICC has implemented. We are just taking it down to the school level so that it can start from there. We need to make sure it’s well received by the schools, studied and implemented.

 

Q: How has Sri Lanka Cricket performed on the financial front over this period?

A: When we took over we had an overdraft of Rs. 285 million and now we have money in the bank. We have wiped out the overdraft. We had a loan of $ 4.5 million to the Bank of Ceylon and we’ve brought it down to around $ 1.8 million. At least now we are not cash-strapped. As long as we are very careful we won’t have a problem.

 

Q: How did you tackle an overdraft of that nature coming in as an interim committee for such a short period of time?

A: It was difficult. First thing we asked for was a huge budget cut. Overall there was a budget cut of about Rs. 40 million. We were very cautious on our expenditure especially in the first three months. I’m pleased to say we were Rs. 240 million below budget in this period. That’s all down to good financial discipline. You have to spend within your means.

The Tournament Director and SLC Vice President Kushal Gunasekera told me that we’ll make a net profit of about Rs. 50 million on this Pakistan tour which we have never done. We’ve invariably made a loss in the past.

We have a lot of expenditure in the coming months because we have a lot of scheduled tours. But at the moment we are comfortable. We have more money to come in from the ICC as well.

 

Q: What is SLC’s relationship with the ICC?

A: We have an excellent relationship. We have absolutely no problem in terms of our relationship. We had a few problems regarding Sri Lanka Cricket’s status. We understand them, where they’re coming from and they understand our situation.

Obviously they would like to see us having elections as fast as possible and ideally they would like elections to take place in October; latest they’ve said is before their meeting on 26 January 2016. We will definitely have the elections as soon as possible.

 

Q: What plans for the Sri Lanka Premier League?

A: We want to run it in four-day, 50-over and T20 formats. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel by changing what Sri Lanka already started. We will maybe use the same franchises and we will speak to broadcasters to get coverage. We will also look into getting some foreign players to participate in it but we have to look at it carefully. The main focus has to be on our cricket.

At the end of the day, this business is about cricket. Our focus has to be to create a top international team so that Sri Lanka cricket can continue to flourish.

 

Q: What about SLC as a brand?

A: We have to look at position Sri Lanka Cricket as a top brand in the country. We have a very good sponsorship committee headed by Prakash Schaffter and some of the top marketing gurus in the country are helping us with it.

This is not an area in which I’m too familiar. We are studying some of the markets as well including the US which I’ve learnt has a big Asian population that follows cricket. So we need to make sure we haven’t undersold our rights and that we explore new avenues in these markets. There is huge potential that we haven’t tapped.

 

Q: What is your vision for Sri Lanka Cricket for the next six months?

A: We need to consolidate what we’ve achieved so far; we need to get our cricket right as well as see these infrastructural developments to its completion.

We need to settle some of the funds owed to the BoC but we are comfortable in that regard. We can even settle it today if we want. We will be prudent. What is important is that we have enough money to run cricket affairs and continue into the next year. Next year I think we have only one inbound tour which is Australia.

 

Q: How would you assess the interim committee’s work so far and do you think this work can continue beyond this committee?

A: I think the public is better equipped to answer that but we’ve come in at an awkward time. I really don’t know whether the culture we’ve created here will continue into the next few years. Sri Lankan must recognise that since 1996 there has been so much change in our boards that one has to see that there is something not quite right. This has led to politicisation and the culture of canvassing and mistrust. This has in turn led to a situation in which nothing concrete can be done and sustained. What can we do in this short period of time? We’ve done a lot but ideally you need two or three years to sustain it. The main reason this can’t happen is that our constitution is flawed.

New Zealand has five or six votes to pick their president and Australia maybe seven or eight. India with 1.2 billion people has around 37 or maybe 40 votes. I may be off by a few votes. Sri Lanka on the other hand has 147 votes with a board of 22 members. Just imagine a board of 22 members sitting around and trying to make a decision. Does that sound sensible to you? A constitutional change is important but who is going to give up their vote? Something needs to be done. Maybe we should zonalise the votes.

I’m not an elected official so I don’t need to be concerned with what A, B and C want but if I needed votes then I would have to take care of their interests as well. Something needs to be done.

Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe