CRICKET CRISIS: MATCH-FIXING OR FIX-UP
Will former captain Hashan Tillekaratne keep his promise and come out with the names in the latest scourge to hit Sri Lanka cricket just a month after the team conceded the World Cup to India in a manner that raised many questions, some relating to match-fixing. For a nation that was only a witness to match-fixing over the past two decades with none of its players tainted or hauled up before the ICC's anti-corruption unit, the scourge must be hard to bear and how the establishment will tackle such a syndrome is the million dollar question.
First and foremost Hashan Tillekaratne needs to be given all the protection usually reserved for court witnesses and not be seen as some disgruntled political element waiting to bowl no balls or bouncers. Tillekaratne is a widely respected cricketer and obviously knows what he is talking about or the gravity of making such accusations in an age when the very establishment he once played for and later served as administrator, was not so long ago branded the most corrupt public institution in the country by none other than former sports minister C.B. Ratnayake.
While questions may be asked why Tillekaratne waited so long to come up with such a shocking charge, it is also important to bear in mind that Sri Lanka has never been known to enforce the code of conduct on players, other than when administrators feel insecure, and nearly all of them down the ages were treated as sacred cows for emotional reasons except for one instance when in the early 1990s disciplinary action was taken against former captain Arjuna Ranatunga who rebelled against the establishment on a tour of New Zealand.
Could Tillekaratne's shocking allegation be a turning point, we hope for the better and not worse, and change a system that needed a messiah to lead the game into a promised land where once again the game and not individuals can flourish. For his part Tillekeratne, whatever the reason he may have had to stir up such a hornet's nest, from now on will be looked at differently and whatever he does or says in public will be followed closely by both his critics and admirers. When none had the guts to take on the dreaded subject of match-fixing Tillekeratne stood out and thus he'll be seen as the latest face of Sri Lanka Cricket right or wrong until what he has said has been investigated and made public.
Of-course the experts have plenty of ammunition to take on Tillekaratne on the question of why he remained silent for almost 20 years. This may also make him a guilty party for concealing what in his belief were facts and figures or the man he was attempting to fix. Only an International Cricket Council-sponsored tribunal can take up this matter independently with credibility for Tillekaratne was once accountable to them (ICC) as a player who had to follow their rules and code.
The sooner that Sri Lanka gets over the match-fixing saga the better will it be for the team. Time may be running out. The game and players are fast out-growing everything else and Tillekaratne's claims may only go against him. It started with him and it should end with him and the sooner the ICC and Sri Lanka Cricket get to the bottom of it will be in the best interests of everyone concerned.
For Tillekeratne and Sri Lanka Cricket there is no going back. The road ahead is laid with political landmines and it is important to bear in mind that no side takes undue advantage over the other. Right now there are signs that Tillekaratne may be hounded and victimised by the powers that be who will take the easy way out, thereby allowing the wound to fester or perhaps create another time bomb.
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