by Reemus Fernando

‎Zahira College Maradana booked a place in the quarter-finals of the Under 19 Division II Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Cricket Tournament with an eight-wicket win over Sri Devananda College, Ambalangoda, at Maradana on Sunday.

‎The home side bowled Devananda out for 99 in 34.2 overs, then reached 102 for two in 25.2 overs. It was Zahira’s fourth consecutive victory in the tournament and their third with bonus points.

‎Devananda struggled against a disciplined Zahira attack from the start. Nishith Thejawa (22) and Kisandu De Silva (20) were the only batsmen to pass 20, as Mohomed Maswooth (3/12), Lithum Ransika (3/20) and Mohommed Aqeel (2/23) took wickets at regular intervals. Maswooth was particularly economical, conceding just 12 runs in nine overs.

‎Zahira’s chase was anchored by opener Ijaz Ahmed, who made an unbeaten 33 off 83 balls with three boundaries. Himsara Heshan added a valuable 41 off 59 deliveries, including four fours and two sixes, and Maswooth finished the job with an unbeaten 10 off 11 balls, including two fours.

‎Led by Thabith Rizficar, the team has now beaten Piliyandala Central (by four wickets), Holy Cross College, Kalutara (by six runs, after being bowled out for 74), Sri Sumangala College, Hikkaduwa (by 164 runs) and Sri Devananda in succession. They have sealed a knockout berth with one match to spare and will face Sri Rahula, Matara, in their next game.

‎A former Division I side, Zahira struggled over the past few seasons. This year, however, after the school administration invested in the services of reputed coach Dinesh Weerasinghe, the results are there to be seen, with the Under 19 team remaining unbeaten on the way to a quarter-final spot.

‎Weerasinghe’s name has long been associated with teams that have reached the top national stage whether it was in schools structure or in the club tournaments. He began coaching in 1988 at Ananda College, Kottawa, and Lumbini, D.S. Senanayake and Thurstan are among the schools that have won major national titles under his guidance.

‎With a knockout berth secured within months of his arrival, few would doubt the team’s ability to earn promotion to the top division now. The next challenge is to repeat this success in the upcoming two-day tournament, where they will aim to reach the final.

by Rex Clementine

The proposed new constitution for Sri Lanka Cricket is now in the public domain and has understandably become the talking point among stakeholders of the great game. There is considerable excitement that the new constitution could usher in an era of professionalism and accountability in cricket administration. Inevitably, there are also parties with vested interests painting a grim picture. Their warnings need to be taken with a generous pinch of salt.

One of the most significant proposed changes is that cricket officials will function essentially as a Board of Directors, responsible for policy and strategic decisions, while the day to day running of SLC will be entrusted to a qualified Chief Executive Officer and other professionals chosen through a rigorous screening process.

For years, SLC’s chief executives have come from cricketing backgrounds. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but the proposed structure allows the net to be cast much wider. It opens the door for an accomplished corporate professional to run the organisation, helping SLC keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated manner in which cricket boards around the world operate.

The appointed directors, too, will largely come from corporate backgrounds, with a renowned former cricketer also among them. More importantly, the proposed structure creates the possibility of someone of the calibre of Roshan Mahanama or Kumar Sangakkara becoming Chairman of the Cricket Board, a scenario virtually unimaginable under the present electoral system.

Will a new board or a revamped electoral process transform the fortunes of the national team overnight? Certainly not. Constitutions do not score hundreds or take five wicket hauls. What good governance can do, however, is create the platform from which a stronger Sri Lankan team can emerge.

One of Sri Lankan cricket’s biggest self inflicted wounds came about a decade ago when SLC expanded the First Class competition to as many as 25 teams. Quantity overwhelmed quality and the competition became hopelessly diluted.

The current administration has now trimmed the First Class competition to ten teams and upgraded matches from three days to four. Such sweeping reform would have been extremely difficult under an administration dependent on club votes. Asking elected officials to reduce the number of voting clubs is rather like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.

That has been the fundamental weakness of the system.

Administrators elected to office have traditionally followed one cardinal rule: keep happy the member clubs, provinces and district associations that vote them into power. In doing so, they have often been reluctant to take the bull by the horns and make difficult decisions in the wider interests of Sri Lankan cricket.

Merit, too, has not always been the only consideration when positions have been handed out. A recent independent assessment found that several coaches employed at district and provincial levels were simply not up to the required standard. When favouritism creeps into professional appointments, cricket inevitably pays the price.

The new constitution should probably have arrived a decade ago. Sadly, successive governments since 2016 lacked the political will to confront the deep rooted problems afflicting cricket administration.

Both the SLFP and UNP have proud links with the game, with party stalwarts ranging from J.R. Jayewardene to Lakshman Jayakody having served cricket with distinction. Yet when reform was desperately required, successive governments turned a blind eye and sided with the elected office bearers running the show.

Dayasiri Jayasekara, Faizer Mustapha, Harin Fernando and Namal Rajapaksa all served as Sports Ministers during this period. Yet, despite the national team’s fortunes steadily deteriorating, meaningful structural reform remained elusive. Some ministers even strengthened the hand of elected officials by extending Shammi Silva’s term limit or permitting Extraordinary General Meetings and Special General Meetings that consolidated his authority.

The public, meanwhile, grew increasingly frustrated with the direction in which the game was heading. Of those former Sports Ministers, Dayasiri narrowly survived to secure a seat in the present Parliament, while the others were rejected at the polls. Namal Rajapaksa subsequently returned to Parliament through the National List.

Credit, therefore, must go to the NPP government for displaying the political will to tackle an issue successive administrations preferred to kick down the road.

The proposed reforms appear to have struck a responsive chord with a large section of cricket loving Sri Lankans. There will be debate, opposition and inevitably legal scrutiny. That is healthy. Once the Supreme Court has made its observations and Parliament has had its say, Sri Lankan cricket will hopefully have a governance structure fit for purpose.

No constitution can guarantee runs, wickets or trophies. But it can ensure that the people making decisions are accountable, qualified and free from the obligation of keeping a voting bloc sweet.

Sri Lankan cricket has waited far too long for that change.

Better late than never.

India beat their fierce rivals Pakistan by 19 runs to win Asian Games cricket gold after a pulsating final in front of a small but raucous crowd in Nagoya, Japan.

World T20 champions India posted 211-6 in their 20 overs on Saturday, with Abhishek Sharma scoring 61 and Tilak Varma 51 not out, before Hasan Nawaz’s valiant 96 saw Pakistan come up just short at 192-6.

It was India’s seventh straight win over Pakistan in T20s and the fifth consecutive men’s game between the two bitter rivals where players didn’t shake hands — both before and after the game.

The neighbouring countries only meet in international tournaments and on neutral ground because of political tensions, and the captains refused the normal handshakes before the match.

The medal ceremony was also substantially delayed before ICC chairman Jay Shah appeared first to present the medals, as twice announced by the official Asian Games broadcast.

Only the Indian players were presented with medals, however, by Shah, who is the son of India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah and a former BCCI secretary.

Pakistan and bronze medallists Sri Lanka were presented with their medals by Asian Games officials.

As before the contest, no handshakes took place at the end of the match or during the medal ceremony.

No reason has been given for the delay or the apparent change to the medal ceremony plans. Al Jazeera has asked the Asian Games for comment.

The clash on a converted baseball field in Japan was new ground for even these bitter enemies and their hundreds of millions of fans who were watching back home on TV.

(Aljazeera)