Businessman Jayantha Dharmadasa will take over as Vice-President of Sri Lanka Cricket today after K. Mathivanan stepped down from the post on Wednesday. A two time President of SLC, Dharmadasa is a vastly experienced cricket administrator having served as a Director of the ICC. He also served as Chairman of the Asian Cricket Council.

Dharmadasa first came into cricket administration in 2005 and during his tenure there were many highlights for Sri Lankan cricket such as whitewashing England 5-0 in their own backyard and reaching the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2007. He stepped down after a three year tenure and returned to SLC in 2013 as President.

More recently in 2015 he functioned as Vice-President but stepped down in 2016 after his efforts to rope in former Test captain Bandula Warnapura as Manager of the national cricket team were shot down.

Dharmadasa was a strong critic of the Big Three takeover of the ICC in 2014 and raised his concerns openly, “SLC has specific concern that the tenor and scope of the Purported Resolutions are in conflict with the fundamental principles upon which the ICC was founded,” he said at that point.

Sri Lanka Cricket sources said that it is likely that Dharmadasa will be put in charge of international cricket again.

Dharmadasa returns to SLC at a crucial juncture when the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has seen the cancellation of several bilateral series. While England’s two Tests were pushed back to February next year, tours by South Africa, India, Bangladesh and the Asia Cup have been indefinitely postponed. One of SLC’s prime targets is to bring India back as early as possible as this ensures them television revenue

SLC is also attempting to launch the inaugural Lanka Premier League – a franchise based T-20 competition. The board said that around 70 overseas players and ten coaches had shown interest in taking part in the competition. The tournament is expected to start in August.