Smooth transition of power in Sri Lanka Cricket are about as rare as a tailender’s century and history offers precious little comfort. When Ana Punchihewa was bundled out just days after the 1996 World Cup triumph, the game’s corridors of power stooped to all kinds of underhand work. Four years later, strongmen stood guard at Maitland Place as the tussle between Thilanga Sumathipala and Clifford Ratwatte boiled over, forcing the State to step in and send special forces.

Fast forward to 2023 and Shammi Silva turned to the courts like a batter reviewing a dubious LBW, armed with the sharpest legal minds from Hulftsdorp, to overturn his ouster. Most Presidents counsel that you see on a Tuesdays at St. Anthony’s shrine were seated next to

Shammi that day. But this time, there was no last-ditch appeal, no gloves-off scrap. Shammi and his committee walked off quietly, no fuss, no fireworks, leaving the field without contest.

Whispers suggest this was no accident. A carefully crafted innings, some say, with every loose end tied up and no room for late drama. Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed via a media release that its President and Executive Committee had stepped down yesterday. The Sports Ministry, quick to raise the flag, accepted the resignations and took the game under its wing. By stumps, Eran Wickramaratne had been handed the captaincy as Chairman of the Interim Committee.

A product of Royal College Colombo, he later traded bat for balance sheets, serving as CEO of Nations Trust Bank for nearly a decade before entering Parliament via the UNP National List in 2010. When he faced the electorate in Colombo, he didn’t just scrape through, he was hugely popular, polling over 82,000 votes. A former Deputy Finance Minister, he now steps into cricket’s hot seat with the nation desperate for reversal of fortunes.

The supporting cast reads like a well-balanced XI. Roshan Mahanama, Sidath Wettimuny and Kumar Sangakkara bring pedigree and poise, while names like Thushira Radella, Avanthi Colombage, Prakash Schaffter, Upul Kumarapperuma and Dinal Philips add administrative nous and experience.

Interim Committees, of course, are not new to Sri Lanka’s cricketing playbook. When the board hit rock bottom after the 1999 World Cup debacle, President Chandrika Kumaratunga stepped in, removing Sumathipala and handing the reins to banker Rienzie Wijetilleke. It proved a masterstroke. Wijetilleke played to his strengths, tightening the screws on finances while surrounding himself with sharp cricketing minds; Michael Tissera, Wettimuny, S. Skandakumar, Ashantha de Mel and Kushil Gunasekara. Within a year, Sri Lanka were back punching above their weight, toppling heavyweights like India, Australia, England and South Africa.

Another reset followed in 2002, with Vijaya Malalasekera at the helm. The team responded with a record 10-Test winning streak, a purple patch that still stands tall in the record books. A third committee under Hemaka Amarasuriya kept the ship steady, steering Sri Lanka to a World Cup semi-final.

But when Mahinda Rajapaksa took charge of the country, the template changed. Interim Committees became less about merit and more about manoeuvre, offering a backdoor entry for those who had lost at the ballot. Mahinda always took care of friends and family. As a result, lines between cricket and politics blurred and the game often paid the price with Mahinda’s sons winning the lucrative television rights.

There was a brief return to cricketing sanity in 2015 when Naveen Dissanayake brought in Wettimuny, but that innings was cut short and politics once again tightened its grip.

Now, the latest committee arrives with a promise; less politics, more purpose. Whether that holds will depend on how they play the conditions. The tenure, the roadmap and the ability to clean up a system long mired in off-field drama remain the real tests.

by Rex Clementine