Introducing good governance to SLC

The 2015 Annual General Meeting and election to of office bearers to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is scheduled to be held before the end of next month. Although all national sports associations (NSAs) should complete their AGMs and election of office bearers by March 30 every year, an exemption was granted to the SLC due to the ongoing ICC World Cup.

Sri Lanka team is enjoying mixed fortunes at the cricketing Olympics, having won two games against minnows Afghanistan and Bangladesh and losing to co-hosts New Zealand. Angelo Mathews and his men will take on England at Wellington's Westpac Stadium today.

But the local battle amongst cricket officials would begin immediacy after the World Cup final. The contest for the hot seat at the country's richest sport governing body (NSA) has always turned out to be a keen tussle for supremacy. There is no exemption this time around as names of four heavyweights have already been mentioned as prospective candidates for the SLC Presidency.

Among them are the incumbent President Jayantha Dharmadasa and Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga. But Nishantha has already declared that he would withdraw from the contest if his elder brother and Sri Lanka's World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga opts to contest. Posing a big challenge to the current men in office would be three-time former SLC President and ex-Asian Cricket Council President Thilanga Sumathipala. It will be interesting to see how these experienced officials fare at the SLC election.

If we go by their playing experience, Arjuna has the best credentials, having played the game at the highest level, leading the national team for many years, including the famous victory at the 1996 World Cup final. But he cut a sorry figure when he contested for the SLC presidency before. However, he had headed the SLC before as the Chairman of an SLC Interim Committee.

In contrast, his main rival at that SLC election - Thilanga Sumathipala has tremendous experience as a sports administrator. Yet, it would be a different story when Thilanga seeks to return to the SLC's top seat again. The fate of the incumbent President and Secretary would entirely depend on how the member clubs evaluate the performance of the current SLC administration.

Bowling a 'doosra' before the SLC elections was Gymkhana Club chief and SLC Ex-Co member Shammi Silva who has urged Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake to initiate an investigation into a match-fixing incident involving an Indian player during the 2010 Asia Cup tournament held in Sri Lanka. In a letter to the Sports Minister February 20, 2015, the SLC Ex-Co member has stated that an Indian player was involved in match-fixing during the tournament held in Dambulla.

Shammi had stated that he initially wrote to SLC President Jayantha Dharmadasa on February 11 about the matter. "Considering the importance of the matter, I kindly request you to appoint a special committee to investigate the above matter as early as possible. It is very essential to hold an inquiry by the Ministry of Sports in order to avoid unnecessary interference by vested interest personalities," Silva wrote in his letter to the Minister of Sports and Tourism and the eldest son of former Sri Lanka Cricket chief, the late Gamini Dissanayake.

None would dispute the commendable and exemplary role played by the former UNP minister. It was Gamini's tireless efforts that opened the eyes of the cricketing world to grant Sri Lanka the full membership of the ICC (Test status) way back in 1981. Hence, his eldest son Navin has a special obligation to put his great father's favourite sport on the right track.

It is now up to the youthful Sports Minister to initiate an investigation to ascertain whether Shammi says right or wrong. On the other hand, Shammi is a respectable sports administrator who had played at the highest domestic level. He has no reason, whosoever, to make such allegation without substantial amount of solid proof.

Hence, the sports-loving public would be eagerly looking forward to know what this allegation is all about and the corrupt men involved. The new Government, headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is going all out to nab the corrupt men, including those in the sports arena. Hence, Shammi's letter could well be an eye-opener to apprehend all those who have had raw deals.

Over the years, there have been many allegations against certain cricket administrators. It does not mean that all the men who administrate the gentlemen's game here are corrupt. But a couple of notorious characters are good enough to tarnish the image of the entire cricket administration of the country. Hence, time is now opportune to investigate those who have thrived by raw deals and eliminate them so that the administration of the gentlemen's game here is completely clean.

Cricketer turned politician Arjuna has always stressed the need to introduce such culture. Now that he is a stakeholder of the new Government, we earnestly hope that the good governance would be introduced to the SLC as well as the other NSAs.