SLC elections has got everyone working

The Sri Lanka Cricket elections are coming up and there may well be a close tussle for positions. The Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga is coming for the Secretary’s post.

Q: Since you are contesting for the post of Secretary once again, if re-elected what would be your immediate goals?

A: My main objective is to primararily bring SLC to a strength of self sufficiency by finding a quick solution to the existing liquidity problem. The experience I have gained over the years coupled with necessary support we get from the relevant authorities should stand in good stead for SLC to financially stable in the near future.

In the long run, the 3 new grounds should be developed and maintained as venues for playing neutral matches. These will facilitate the development of tourism, the inflow of foreign exchange and economic development through sports.

Our players require more opportunities and better facilities in the field of training to practice the sharpening of their individual skills. This also requires the watchful eye of competent cricket coaches to help in the disciplines of this sport in all spheres. Players should also be made to have higher sports values.

We have aggressive plans in elevating the sport with priority being given to the development of schools and provincial cricket, contracting of new players, development of women’s cricket and providing facilities to all parts of the country for practice and training.

Entering into partnership with sponsors would also be high on our agenda.

Q: During your term as the Secretary Sri Lanka Cricket from March 2009-June 2011, there were many allegations reported of drastic changes in the administration. Could you clarify these?

A: Yes, although many media organizations have carried out adverse media reports pertaining to the conduct of the administration headed by D.S. de Siva as Chairman from March 2009 to June 2011, we in fact as the Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket grew to be a formidable Organization supported by a sizeable workforce. During this period Sri Lanka Cricket achieved success in completing its major objectives such as National Level Teams Administration and Management, Total Venue Management, Conducting of Tournaments, Infrastructure Development and Maintenance, IT Infrastructure and Support Services, Tour and Routine logistics for Teams, Coaching Structure and Implementation of ICC Policies.

Q: What were the additional “Professional Services” Sri Lanka Cricket delivered during this period?

A: In 2009 with staff strength of 237, it was necessary that the Organization’s work force be managed professionally. Taking into consideration that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 (CWC 2011) Tournament was around the corner, it was important to have the human factor fully trained and equipped to handle this world class event.

Similarly, staff had to be inducted to set the momentum of newly created departments by way of fixed term and temporary assignment based recruitments. All staff recruited was screened for their academic and professional credentials prior to recruitment.

Therefore, immediate steps were taken to recruit competent professionals to man the three new Departments under the watchful eye of SLC consisting of Human Resources, I.T/Research and Development and the Engineering. A brief summary of their functions are listed below.

1. Human Resources Department

Creation of HR Department was necessitated by the fact there was a diverse staff of around 250 during the mentioned tenure. There was a need to manage this staff professionally, taking training and development into consideration. This department played a crucial role in conducting the 1st ever special “Skills Program” to players which covered areas such as “Effective Communication and Personal Etiquette.

2. IT/Research and Development Department

This Department was primarily formulated to enhance IT based performance analysis on players and opponents to match up to international standards. State of the art communication applications and infrastructure was entrusted to be managed by this department which were critical in official and event wise activities. All ICT infrastructure and planning in the CWC 2011 were executed by them. Further, it was also entrusted to maximize the unutilized digital media rights of SLC to viable profitability.

3. Engineering Department

This department was created to professionally handle the construction of the three Stadiums, plan out maintenance and implement needs of SLC’s venues and grounds. The department was entrusted to manage all infrastructure owned by SLC on a full time basis. The Engineering crew at SLC was responsible for saving around 150 million LKR during construction of stadia through highly professional “Bills of Quantity analyzing”.

This decision bore fruition as SLC was able to host the Tournament with a touch of professionalism and in a class of its own, to the best satisfaction of ICC.

A colossal amount of speculation has been made that SLC was in a “Financial Quandary” during your appointment. Could you please explain if this is either true or false?

This is totally false statement. Let me explain the reality….

At the time of appointing the Interim Committee (IC), SLC was in debt for an amount of 600 million LKR which included bank loans and unpaid ICC annual subscription fees. This brought about an element of uncertainty to the member status of SLC within the ICC. To evade a future financial crunch the ICC World T20 was earmarked as an ideal event which was earlier scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka in September 2009, which however did not materialize.

After rounds of inspection undertaken by the ICC in early 2009, it was decided to shift the WT20 2011 to South Africa delivering a massive blow to SLC’s coffers and a Sri Lankan economy trying to revive its tourism industry after the end of the 30 year old civil war in May. The prime reason for the ICC to disallow the application for hosting the tournament was the lack of proper infrastructure in the international venues in Sri Lanka. The Interim Committee at that moment understood Sri Lanka as the Test nation which had the lowest quality Test venues in the world (With the exception of R. Premadasa Stadium). The media and spectator capacity and facilities including other state of the art infrastructure within the stadiums were highlighted as far below par to host an ICC event.

The Sri Lankan economy together with SLC lost 30 million USD foreign revenue from the ICC event budget alone due to the lack of suitable Cricketing infrastructure.

At present SLC owns assets worth Rs 7 billion in the form of new grounds whereas the liabilities amount to 1.5 billion. Isn’t it the situation where the liabilities of an institution are in excess of its assets?

At present SLC owns assets worth Rs 7 billion in the form of new grounds whereas the liabilities amount to 1.5 billion. Can you call it a bankrupt situation then?

I see it as a short term liquidity problem.

Many people also speculated that SLC was in a bankrupt state. The money spent is capital expenditure and is an investment towards the future. In fact the total money spent has contributed to the national product and economy. This all about the reality. I would like to pay all the cricketing interest public, expert and past cricketers to open their eyes and see the reality and understand the present stance of the SLC.

Q: What measures did the Interim Committee take to strengthen the Provincial cricket, Schools and women’s cricket and especially in rural areas?

A: The Interim Committee’s focus was drawn in this region due to the lack of emphasis paid to the development of cricket in the rural areas. Nearly 85% of the Cricketers which represent the national team are produced from these cities and towns. Hence the Interim Committee made rapid structural changes within the Coaching unit of SLC to revive the Provincial and District coaching system. On this program 15 District Coaches were recruited along with 2 Provincial Coaches to embark on rural skills development and talent identification. Since the North Eastern conflict came to an end under the able Leadership of HE the President, the Cricket Administrative infrastructure in those neglected areas over the years became highly necessary, given the fact that a score of good Cricketers were produced from those areas in the good old days before the outbreak of the Civil war. Therefore, prudent action was taken to restore the cricketing infrastructure in the North and East.

Some of the large scale projects undertaken by the Interim Committee to uplift the provincial cricketing setup in the country were the construction of Cricket Ground at Walasmulla, the construction of Surrey Cricket Grounds at Maggona, the construction of the Badulla Indoor Practice nets and the Refurbishment of Welagedara stadium in Kurunegala.

In terms of Schools Cricket, the Interim Committee was of the view that the future of Sri Lanka’s cricket lay with the current schools cricket system and nurturing our “cradle of Cricket” was of paramount importance. The Interim Committee spent over 300 million rupees to uplift the standards of Schools Cricket islandwide. SLC further invested in recruiting a Manager for Schools Cricket with the intention of developing this sport at grass root levels. This drive enabled the Interim Committee to help support by distributing of Cricket gear for schools islandwide inclusive of the Northern and Eastern provinces, the construction of Side Concrete Wickets and Side Matting Wickets for 140 Schools, Installation of state-of-the-art sprinkler systems to main School grounds, Construction of St. John’s College Cricket Ground, Panadura.

Q: Our semi-professional cricketers face many challenges balancing work, practices and also encounter huge financial commitments to stay within the sport. What support did the Interim Committee provide to our existing semi-professional cricketers?

A: At the time of our appointment into the Interim Committee only 26 players in Sri Lanka were contracted and had the opportunity to play and train in the disciplines of Cricket on a full time basis. Hence Sri Lanka were losing a large proportion of its talent pool due to the lack of opportunity presented to them. Within the next 2 years we managed to increase the number of contracted players up to 100 enabling these cricketers to enjoy the facilities offered to the national Cricketers making them exclusively available to enhance their Cricketing skills on a full time basis as they did not have the need to seek employment elsewhere.

The support given to Women’s Cricket was enormous during this time.30 women cricketers were contracted during this period by the Board. Additionally many International matches were organized both locally and internationally and we were proud to see our women cricketers making steady progress. Representation in these games helped bring our rankings down tremendously. Our test Rankings improved from No. 6 to No. 2 and our one day status from No. 7 to No. 2.

Q: The controversy surrounding the Suriyawewa Cricket Stadium gained negative publicity. What drove the Interim Committee to commence development of the controversial cricket stadium?

A: With the unsavory episode of the WT20 in 2009 , the biggest dilemma faced by the IC was to prepare Sri Lanka’s Cricketing infrastructure to secure our episode of the position as a co-host of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 (CWC 2011). It is noteworthy to mention that although the bid documents were signed by SLC as early as in 2006 but unfortunately no work was undertaken till the IC headed by D.S. de Silva was appointed by their predecessors which made them face a daunting challenge as responsible administrators of the game. The concerns were further elevated by the colossal amounts required to build the required infrastructure. Hence the task of upgrading/ building the necessary stadia was entrusted to government organizations which would in turn be bearing a large percentage of the costs.

With ICC’s commitment to offer Sri Lanka with 3 ICC events namely CWC 2011, WT20 2012 & Champions Trophy in 2015 it was of utmost priority of the IC to make sure the Stadia infrastructure was in place to the standards required by the ICC. With each tournament consisting teams from 14 -24 a large number of spectators, journalists and officials were expected to visit Sri Lanka to witness these world class events.

In these tournaments, SLC‘s benefits will be limited to the host fee paid by the ICC and the ticket revenue generated from the spectators. As the government will be the beneficiary of all tax revenue generated by mass exodus of Cricket fans and media personnel flocking to Sri Lanka through their logistical and recreational high level spending.

In an era of launching massive tourist engaging promotional activities, Sri Lanka’s tourism attributes has potential to reach billions of prospective tourists via the promotional programs of the ICC to attract Cricket lovers. As the country will be getting promotional mileage worth millions of dollars it was the best interest of the government and the people of Sri Lanka to host such events.

Primarily Sri Lanka was to hold 8 matches for CWC 2011 and attention was given to develop Pallekele Stadium (PICS) along with the upgrading of the R. Premadasa Stadium (RPICS) to host the matches concerned. The construction work of the 2 stadia was given to State Engineering Corporation under a directive from the Minister of Sports. Dambulla Stadium (RDICS) could not be considered for revampment as Sri Lanka had to host 15 matches in the year 2010 under flood lights (as per the agreement with TEN Sports – Host broadcaster) including the 2010 Asia Cup. After the terrorist attack involving Sri Lankan players occurred in Pakistan, the ICC decided to reallocate 4 additional matches to Sri Lanka bringing in the requirement of an additional venue for Sri Lanka. SLC’s only option was to upgrade the Galle Cricket Stadium. However the Galle Cricket Stadium situated in the vicinity of a world heritage site earmarked by UNESCO was considered non-upgradable upon careful evaluation in order to preserve the heritage of the Galle Fort. Upon considering many alternatives outside Colombo it was decided to select Hambantota to build a new Cricket Stadium for the following commercial reasons.

The fastest developing city in Sri Lanka.

An upcoming international hub for logistics with the upcoming Port.

An upcoming tourist hub upon the completion of the international air port.

An earmarked centre for knowledge in Asia.

The decision to build the Suriyawewa Stadium was taken solely by the IC and derived of any political pressure. The construction work of the stadium was contracted to Sri Lanka Ports Authority via an approval from the Cabinet sighting its mobility of construction resources in the region. Suriyawewa was selected as the suburb of choice to build the stadia as it is in close proximity to the outskirts of Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces where no international venues are located.

Q: The general public is of the view that there was tremendous pressure exerted on the Interim Committee from the government in building the new stadium at Hambantota. Is this true?

A: No, there was no government pressure at all contrary to what people may think. As originally planned we had to host only 8 matches in the WC tournament. We were allotted 4 extra matches, bringing the number of matches to 12 that we had to host. Therefore in addition to the 2 stadia we had to find new grounds. We had already started upgrading the Khettarama stadium and considered developing Dambulla because it was the only other ground where ‘Day-Night’ matches could be held. Preparing Dambulla for WC matches would have meant that all the matches scheduled to be played there during 1 1/2 years would have to be abandoned resulting in a huge loss to SLC.

The Galle Stadium with its historical background and situated in the vicinity of a world heritage site and earmarked by UNESCO could not be upgraded.

SSC and Tamil Union cricket grounds couldn’t be considered as they do not belong to SLC.

We picked Hambantota for a number of reasons. The previous committees had also allocated money to construct a ground in Hambantota. It is a rapidly developing area with an International Port, International Airport, free trade zone and a rapidly developing tourist industry with new hotels being built. It wasn’t due to any sort of pressure.

But a decision taken in the interest of sports development. Youngsters are already entering the cricketing arena from Hambantota.

Q: The cricket stadiums were completed in the nick of time to host all the world cup matches. Do you think that the 3 grounds conform to ICC and International Standards?

A: I’m confident that the 3 grounds conform to modern International standards. ICC officers inspected the progressive work both during the construction and also after completion. In fact the ICC match referee Sir Clive Lloyd and Prof. Hugh Gean Van Moore highly commended the work done. They compared our grounds to the ones in Australia; high in quality with good facilities. WC tour organizer Prof. Shetty was of the opinion that our grounds provided better facilities than our Indian counterparts. Even the match commentators were impressed and praised the grounds and the facilities provided. We must not forget that the construction work was completed within a very short period of time. When our committee assumed duties no planning had been done and no work had been undertaken in preparation for the World Cup. However the success achieved was mainly due to the committee. Their dedication, their maturity and experience they had gained over the years made this possible.

Q: There is an accusation that there was corruption in constructing and revamping these grounds and many Interim Committee Members filled their pockets with commissions. Has this happened really?

A: That is not true. In keeping with the government policy all construction was assigned to the State Engineering Corporation. Construction work at Hambantota was assigned to the Port Authority. Since 90% of our payments were to the Government sector, how could there be corruption? I’m thankful to the SL Army for their contribution to construct these grounds. Also 2 Govt. audits were conducted during our period in office. And internal auditing was done continuously. There is no report of any evidence of corruption in these reports.

Q: Part of your job functions as the Secretary of SLC was to secure “Additional Tours”. What did you manage to secure during your tenure?

A: It is due to building of relationship with the other member boards and we organized overseas tours for the Under 19 and Sri Lanka A teams which amounted to preparing and training good cricketers for the future. We organized top level overseas tournaments with financial gains as well with India, England, Australia and South Africa. With the experience I had in cricket administration I was able to earn an additional income of Rs. 1,300 million for Sri Lanka Cricket in the way of organizing additional overseas tournaments such as the Triangular series in September 2009, the Test Series against India in August 2010, Asia Cup 2010 and the Champions League.

Although the opportunity to host the T-20 World Cup in 2009 was lost to us, we succeeded in persuading the ICC to allow us to host the T20 World Cup in 2012. This tournament will earn for Sri Lanka Cricket an income of $ 6.5 million which proves that we have been working to a plan in order to achieve the targets.

In the current context of International Cricket driven by high demand on TV based commercial rights, India holds the highest value as an inbound touring cricketing nation by virtue of the cricket fanatic 1 billion population in the country. As playing India at home pays the highest dividends, all international teams lineup to have India at least once in their 4-year calendar.

The Interim Committee in 2009-11 through their negotiating skills secured to get India to visit Sri Lanka on 3 occasions during a 1 ½-year time period resulting in an additional income of 1,207,428,986 LKR (1.2 billion).

All these were outside from the official ICC’s Future Tours Program (FTP) and were not forecasted income of SLC. By further negotiations with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) SLC managed to bag 55,500,000 LKR (55 million) for Sri Lanka’s participation at the IPL Champions League tournament.

We also managed to retain the “agent’s fee” of 10%, previously paid to the private agents of the Sri Lankan cricket participants at the IPL, towards SLC for development purposes of Cricket in Sri Lanka.

Q: Could you conclude that the Interim Committee achieved its objectives during their time?

A: Considering the above in deeds it is a plain fact the IC in reference has executed its duties considering the interests of development of Cricket in the country and the total interest of the nation with ruthless efficiency.

The magnitude of the work executed in terms of world class infrastructure, provincial and district based development.

Schools Cricket Development and structuring the SLC administration to a world class sports management unit has left its predecessors to drown in envy and fund a media mechanism to bring disrepute, disrespect and manipulate public opinion as no cricket administrative body in this country has come close to challenge at least 30% of its productivity or vision.