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)

by Rex Clementine

The national cricket team is bracing for a major shake up, with several new faces set to be drafted into the national set up as officials begin plotting a course towards next year’s World Cup.

The national team has endured a wretched two months across all three formats and several prominent players are now in the firing line ahead of the tour of Pakistan, one of the longest assignments undertaken by a Sri Lankan side in recent memory.

The Pakistan tour will stretch across 46 days, with Sri Lanka playing three T20Is, a tri-nation ODI series involving England, followed by two Test matches.

Two former captains, in particular, are under the pump.

Former white ball skipper Wanindu Hasaranga has been left out of the T20I squad and is unlikely to be considered for the ODIs either, with concerns over his attitude understood to have ruffled feathers within the hierarchy.

Hasaranga was sent home midway through the recent tour of England after an unusual sequence of events. It is understood that the leg-spinner had gone to watch a football match and on his return, complained of back pain that ruled him out of the opening ODI. SLC subsequently decided to send him home. Although the injury was considered only a minor niggle, the selectors now appear ready to draw a line in the sand by overlooking him for the Pakistan games.

Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva is also on shaky ground. He is expected to lose the captaincy and could even struggle to retain his place in the playing XI. Kusal Mendis, who leads Sri Lanka in limited-overs cricket, is expected to take over the Test reins on an interim basis.

The Cricket Transformation Committee is also looking at clipping the wings of players who spend considerable time on the franchise circuit. One proposal would restrict a player to two overseas franchise tournaments, while players could also be required to leave their franchise commitments and report to Colombo at least a week before Sri Lanka embark on an international assignment.

The arrival of several players in England directly from franchise commitments in the Caribbean is understood to have gone down badly in some quarters.

With the old guard under scrutiny, opportunity is knocking for several youngsters who have put their hands up in domestic cricket. A number of them are expected to be blooded during the Pakistan tour as Sri Lanka begin building towards next year’s World Cup.

The winds of change are not confined to the dressing room either.

Moves are also under way to overhaul the administration of Sri Lanka Cricket. The Cricket Transformation Committee is understood to be unimpressed with the returns delivered by some of the board’s highest paid executives but has little room to manoeuvre until their contracts expire. The absence of exit clauses in some of those agreements has proved a costly administrative blunder.

Meanwhile, the proposed new constitution for SLC is gathering momentum, with its architects hoping to transform the governing body into a more professional organisation in keeping with some of the leading cricket boards around the world.

Similar reforms were proposed in 2015 when Sidath Wettimuny headed an interim administration with the backing of then Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake. A new constitution was drafted by respected legal scholar Prasanna Jayawardena, but the government of the day showed little appetite to push the reforms through and eventually handed the reins back to elected officials.

Had those reforms been implemented in 2015, SLC might have emerged as a far more robust institution. Instead, elected administrations continued to call the shots, too often with little long term vision or pragmatism.

Public criticism over the manner in which SLC has been administered has mounted over the years, leaving the government with something approaching Hobson’s choice. It eventually decided to take the bull by the horns despite the risk of suspension by the global governing body in Dubai.

In a shrewd move, the government brought respected former players Sidath Wettimuny, Roshan Mahanama and Kumar Sangakkara into the committee overseeing cricket affairs during the transition, lending considerable credibility to the reform process.

The new constitution is expected to be in place by the end of the year, although legal challenges appear inevitable.

As The Sunday Island has previously reported, several leading lawyers were beneficiaries of the previous SLC administration’s willingness to spend record sums on legal fees. With another battle looming, it would hardly raise eyebrows if some of the same legal eagles were soon singing for their supper again.