WORLD CUP: FROM GLORY TO GORY
When former sports minister C.B. Ratnayake branded the current Interim Committee running Sri Lanka Cricket as the most corrupt public institution in the country, he put himself on a shaky wicket and became an umpire whose verdicts were ignored when the powers that be virtually forced him to retain the same committee.
Like most people, we have little respect for politicians in terms of integrity, high principales and sincere sacrificial service to the people. So Mr. Ratnayake was forced to overrule himself but today somewhere far away from the boundary lines, he must be knowing he has been vindicated because cricket, the pride and joy of our country and Sri Lanka Cricket are at sixes and sevens.
Not that celebrating the downfall of someone or some organization is an accepted norm of decency, but what else can right-thinking people do other than cheer when the rot is exposed in a country where hypocrisy, double games and bluff blaze high on the scoreboard.
With captain Kumar Sangakkara and vice captain Mahela Jayewardena stepping down from their posts in the Sri Lanka team, the selectors resigning for reasons best known to them and a report highlighting that the game’s administration has gone bankrupt, Mr. Ratnayake must be on a good wicket realising he is no longer the head of a so-called sports ministry that is supposed to ensure not winning or losing but how we play the game.
Most cricket fans believe that little or nothing will change in cricket administration. For when one set of questionable characters leave, another set of the same breed, or may be others even worse, enter the fray for their turn. Many believe that the government itself must take a large part of the responsibility for the recent debacles and setbacks. This started some 10 years ago when the government stepped in with interim committees and their stooges being brought in to run if not ruin cricket.
It seems now that some people are shedding cricket tears for the thousands of people who were cheated without tickets to witness the World Cup at their doorstep. When millions of rupees were ripped off in the name of the World Cup, these opportunists were asleep and should ask themselves what wisdom is there left in crying foul after the match is over.
At least the lilywhites or purists will have just one man in the whole world to thank for the string of resignations. For if not for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s innings of 91, Sri Lanka would have won the World Cup and the maggots and leeches would have been swept under the turf.
The question must now be asked whether the selectors headed by Aravinda de Silva resigned for the reasons they have stated or to save face over a historic selection blunder at the final. Will their resignations be seen as hoodwinking the public to stave off any impending inquiry, the outcome of which will never be made public.
Kumar Sangakkara may have had his reasons to resign, but we take off our caps to him for he had the wisdom to speak out honestly and openly in an establishment where the score books are filled with deception and double talk.
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