Sports
Cricket’s Iron Lady
by Rex Clementine
The world is celebrating the election of Kamala Harris, the first female Vice-President of the US. But hey, we Sri Lankans had a woman as our Prime Minister more than half a century ago. Some of our women have been trendsetters and their visionary leadership has been remarkable and exemplary. In cricket circles, you find more and more women taking up leadership roles. Sri Lanka set the trend in appointing a woman to run one of game’s showpiece events when they hosted the World T-20 in 2012. Upeka Abeykoon is her name.
The World T-20 in 2012 is the biggest sporting event the nation has hosted so far. The men’s and women’s events were scheduled simultaneously and hosting 20 international teams is a herculean task. Upali Dharmadasa’s committee met to decide on a Tournament Director. There were other accomplished men in both cricket and corporate sectors like Sidath Wettimuny, Ajit Jayasekara, Nuzki Mohammad and Prakash Schafter to name a few in that committee and they unanimously decided on Upeka.
Ours is not an effort to say that Upali Dharamdasa was a paragon of virtue. His decision to sack Geoff Marsh took our cricket backwards and cost Sri Lanka Cricket an arm and a leg. He also conspired with a senior player against his own captain. But he needs to be given due credit for making that tough call. Upeka Abeykoon became the first woman to be the Director of a cricket tournament.
The obstacles Upeka had were many. She had only 11 months to prepare for the event. The tournament consisted double headers and hence extra dressing rooms had to be put in place at cricket centers like Pallekele and RPS. In order to cater to 20 teams, umpires, match referees and officials, the organizing arm had to make sure they reserved 800 hotel rooms in both Kandy and Colombo.
Colombo had many options but Kandy was a tough one. Upeka prevailed venturing into nearby Dambulla where you find very good hotel facilities. The idea to airlift match officials and teams to Pallekele from Dambulla was mooted but with the help of police escorts all involved in games were brought to venues in double quick time by road.
To cater to the needs of such a big contingent plus the world’s media and fans, Upeka recruited some 12,000 volunteers. Mostly school leavers, these volunteers became immensely popular among fans and overseas media as they won everyone over with the typical Sri Lankan hospitality.
Another feather in Upeka’s hat was introducing an online ticketing system for the first time in Sri Lanka. The system was not only secure but took away many hassles as well such as waiting in long queues and purchasing tickets in the black market paying through your nose. The black market mafia that frequents RPS was literally wiped out thanks to the online ticketing system and all credit to Upeka.
People often make jokes of Upeka’s height – five feet no inches. But there aren’t many individuals in the cooperate world who are as smart and as diligent as she is. Here’s an example.
Politicians often want hundreds of tickets for cricket games to be given away for kith, kin and supporters. It’s a tricky issue that Sri Lanka Cricket had been afraid to take head on for years. Upeka’s method worked. Politicians were cut to size and fair play prevailed thanks to the online ticketing system. From the Sports Minister to the ordinary cricket fan all were served with the same spoon. Sports media loved Upeka for this. Many men had failed to tackle this issue. But she came off with flying colours in her first assignment itself and for this sports media called her the iron lady for not many people take on politicians and survive.
Upeka’s theories were interesting. She believed that no one is indispensable, even herself. She told her team that even if something were to happen to her lead up to the event, the tournament had to finish successfully. The nation put out a spectacular event. The ICC congratulated SLC on a fine show.
Following the success of Upeka in other parts of the world, women were entrusted in running cricket events. Accordingly, Jennifer Nero conducted the T-20 World Cup for women in 2018 in the Caribbean and Andrea Nelson has been put in charge of Women’s’ World Cup in New Zealand in 2022.
Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning team will arrive in Kuala Lumpur today (Friday) for a series of events marking the 30th anniversary of their triumph that stunned the cricketing world. The tour, organised by Tourism Malaysia, Cricket Malaysia and the Royal Selangor Club, will feature several events spread across four days.
The highlight of the visit will be a T20 game involving the World Cup-winning side on Saturday, starting at 11:30 a.m. Sri Lanka time. The match will be telecast live on Dialog TV.
A gala dinner, coaching clinics for underprivileged children conducted by the former world champions and several fan engagement activities are also part of the programme.
Sri Lanka’s dependable number three from the 1996 campaign, Asanka Gurusinha and team physiotherapist Alex Kountouri, both based in Melbourne, had already arrived in Kuala Lumpur ahead of the event, while the rest of the squad were due to leave Colombo on Thursday night.
“I am really excited and looking forward to the event. It’s always fun to get together with the boys and relive the good old days. It’s going to be a cracking few days,” Gurusinha told The Island.
“Without us even realising it, 30 years have gone by since we became world champions. All the boys are still close to each other just like we were back then and as I said, it’s going to be an exciting few days,” he added.
The organisers have secured several sponsors for the occasion and hope the presence of Sri Lanka’s celebrated side will help generate greater interest in cricket in Malaysia.
Malaysia became an associate member of the International Cricket Council in 1967 and remains an active member of the Asian Cricket Council. Earlier this year, they appointed former Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore as Director of Cricket.
The country has previously hosted ICC events, including the Under-19 World Cup, but the national side has struggled to keep pace with emerging Asian teams such as Nepal, Oman, UAE and Hong Kong.
Badminton remains Malaysia’s most popular sport, accounting for ten of the country’s 15 Olympic medals. Football too enjoys a passionate following, leaving cricket fighting an uphill battle for wider appeal.
Rex Clementine
in Kuala Lumpur
Tilak Varma (c), Priyansh Arya, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Riyan Parag (vc), Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Harsh Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Vipraj Nigam, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Arshad Khan
Saudi Arabia is set to host its first franchise league later this year, with the ‘Dunes League T20’ due to launch in October. The league has been sanctioned by the Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation (SACF) and is expected to feature players who have recently retired from international cricket but remain active on the franchise circuit.
Saudi Arabia has been a major disruptor in the sporting world over the last five years as the oil-rich kingdom looks to diversify its economy, staging lucrative football, tennis and boxing events. The nation’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also launched the breakaway LIV Golf tour, though has recently announced that it will withdraw funding at the end of this season.
There have been widespread rumours over the last three years that Saudi Arabia would disrupt cricket by launching a T20 league to rival the IPL, with further speculation last year about potential investment in a ‘Grand Slam-style’ circuit of T20 leagues floated by the Australian Cricketers’ Association.
In practice, Arabia’s entry into the cricketing world has been gradual, via sponsorship deals with the ICC and staging the IPL auction in 2024. The SACF also partnered with the UAE’s ILT20 last year, and has signed a long-term agreement to stage the FairBreak Women’s T20 Challenge, though the first edition has been postponed due to conflict in the Gulf region.
The six-team Dunes T20 League is planned to launch in October with matches played in Taif, near Jeddah. It has been developed in partnership with the Sports Asian Network and two talent agencies: Unique Sports Group, whose clients include Jofra Archer, and Prolithic, who manage Abhishek Sharma. Prolithic’s Yuvraj Singh will act as the league’s ambassador.
The SACF initially announced provisional plans for the league late last year and said that it was designed to put Saudi Arabia “on the global cricket map” and “develop Saudi talent”.
The league is expected to feature a maximum of four players who have played full-member international cricket in the last two years, thereby falling under the threshold that demands approval from the ICC. Top salaries could reach USD 100,000.
[Cricinfo]
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