Arjuna and Sidath urge cricketers to preserve tradition and culture

Arjuna and Sidath urged school cricketers to preserve tradition and culture which he said was more important than making money

Two of Sri Lanka’s greatest cricketers, parliamentarian Arjuna Ranatunga and Interim Committee Chairman, Sidath Wettimuny urged young schoolboy cricketers to stick to the rich heritage, traditions and culture of the country rather than giving priority to money spinning missions, while playing the game .

Charith Asalanka of Richmond College, Galle who won the Most Outstanding Players award at the Singer school cricket awards ceremony received the rophy from minister Arjuna Ranatunga. from left Chairman Interim Committee Sidath Wettimuny, Ananda College Principal Kithsiri Liyanagamage and Director Marketing Singer Kumar Samarasinghe is also seen in the picture. Pic.Sarath Peiris

Minister Ranatunga and Sidath Wettimuny were the chief guest and guest of honour respectively at the Singer School Cricket awards ceremony held at the BMICH recently.

Ranatunga said Sri Lankans have a glorious cricketing history with cricketers of the calibre of Mahadeva Sathasivam, F.C.. De Saram, C.I.Gunasekera, Michael Tissera, Anura Tennekoon, Dulip Mendis, Roy Dias, Aravinda de Silva and Sidath Wettimuny to name a few from the galaxy of top class cricketers who played the game with distinction and in the right spirit.

“ My advice to young cricketers is not to make cricket a money-making enterprise, Cricket could affect one’s life, because today you could be on top of the world, but tomorrow it could not be the same and you may fall- winning at times and losing at times. I will not endorse cricket to be used as a money-making project. As I said we have a rich cricket culture. In the past we never wanted to emulate what players from other countries did. We had our own cricketing tradition.” said Ranatunga.

He stressed the importance of coaching in cricket. He believed that a cricket coach should be a professional, well- trained and qualified to do the job.That should be top priority. “We were fortunate during our time to have coaches of the likes of Lionel and Nelson Mendis, W.A.N.Silva, Major Silva and P.W.Perera who taught us not only how to play the game but many things besides that and to play forward defence or backfoot defence.

They taught us how to carry ourselves on and off the field and even how to sit at table .They corrected our English, when we made mistakes.These were the coaches we had,” Sidath said.

Ranatunga said during his time one could spot a potential player while int school itself. But lamented that today it is not the same, as it is difficult to identify a talented player good enough to represent the country. To address this situation Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) and the Sri Lanka school Cricket Association (SLSCA) should join hands to find a remedy. Once that is done the future for the country’s cricket should be brighter for Sri Lanka will not find it difficult to compete at international level.

Ranatunga said in the past, SLC did not do much for cricketers. He said it was so politicised that stadiums were built in the name of politicians at the expense of Sri Lanka Cricket which resulted in the bankruptcy of the institution.

Towing with modern day international cricket, SLSCA in collaboration with SLC has decided to impose a Code Of Conduct for school cricket,. Wettimuny revealed this at the Singer School Cricket Award ceremony held at the BMICH on Thursday.

“ We felt that there is a great need of a Code Of Conduct for schoolboy cricketers. This will apply to players, masters-in charge, coaches and even parents. It is important that we have this at all levels of the game. During our time we played the game not only to win but with a lot of discipline. If there is no discipline, nothing could be done. We have also discussed to give a Spirit of the Game Award for the first three schools.. The school which ends up with the best on and off th efield will be recognised and rewarded. Once we do that all players will want to win this award and it will be a prestigious award.We are trying to do a lot for school cricket. Cricket is a way of life and and it shows us how to live our lives.” he said.

Wettimuny also said that he is exploring the possibility and wants to have discussions with Sports Minister, Navin Dissanayake to obtain a plot of land and build four cricket grounds and make it a cricket village.