Cricket election or Skandakumar report?
The speed at which cricket administration’s behind-the-scene big hitters Thilanga Sumathipala and Jayantha Dharmadasa raced for a toss-up at a possible Sri Lanka Cricket election would have taken no one by surprise. Such a race had been written between the lines in the scorebook for the past four years after both men had been dismissed hit-wicket by the head-umpire who had not taken to the field but made his decisions after watching the game on his giant television screen under the shade of some trees.
Now not only the spectators but also the cricketers will be witnessing the developments in the run-up to the election, if there’ll be one, with much interest. Whoever wins, we hope he will work towards a clean administration free from corruption instead of trying to protect private interests amid the money spinning Indian Premier League, the proposed Sri Lanka Premier League and other T-20 tamashas that will be lined up.
But the main question on the minds of those who want cricket to be cricket and not big business, will be whether an election is the solution to the grave crisis that has hit Sri Lanka cricket where the establishment has virtually been turned upside down and corruption is at its worst while the millionaire players are allowed to pick and choose the matches they will play.
As things stand, the pavilion politics appears to have already begun and the fear is that thuggery, intimidation and vote-buying may feature prominently in the race to become the keeper of not only the nation’s passion but also the most influential and richest sports organisation where income and expenditure are counted in hundreds of millions. Some sleazy characters have already remarked that they will “rob and plunder with interest” if their camp is elected. This sends a chilling message whether cricket in Sri Lanka will degenerate from no-balls to bodyline bowling.
We are all for democratic elections to pick the men who will hold the bat straight in a new Sri Lanka Cricket administration whether it is Mr. Sumathipala or Mr. Dharmadasa. But after what has happened to cricket over the past decade and may be half a decade prior to that with elected bodies taking centre stage, it is important to ask whether a change in the system to make way for a Board of Governors to run the affairs of the game is an acceptable solution.
After all, we know the integrity of the men who had served Sri Lanka cricket with honesty and dignity. Won’t it be prudent to have on this Board of Governors men in the mould of S. Skandakumar, Michael Tissera, Sidath Wettimuny, Ana Punchihewa, Neil Perera, Roy Dias, Rumesh Ratnayake and Michael de Zoyza if they are willing and available.
It will make interesting reading if one can only take a look at the "Confidential Report" of Mr. Skandakumar who headed a probe committee that inquired into the team’s conduct in the mid 1990s that made startling revelations and recommendations that are said to have paved the way for Sri Lanka to win the World Cup in 1996. We are not saying that it was a miracle report, but at least it helped draw the lines between player and administrator with each man knowing his responsibility and where discipline and accountability were part and parcel of the whole establishment.
What Sri Lanka Cricket needs today is not a popularity count, but yet another Skandakumar Report to put the team and the establishment back on the right pitch.
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