‘Nosediving cricket needs a take-off’

Nishantha Ranatunga says cricketers have been chased away, the team has fallen to the lowest dumps in history and all the bad eggs who made rip-offs are in the opposing camp:

by Callistus Davy

With the countdown to an election that must have become the most decisive in the annals of Sri Lanka cricket, Nishantha Ranatunga has never been as optimistic as he is even during the time he held sway.

Aiming for the top post of president of Sri Lanka Cricket, Ranatunga could not have asked for a better team. In it is his vice president candidate and brother Arjuna, perhaps the most influential voice in the affairs of the game in the country ever since he lifted the World Cup in 1996.

His aspiring treasurer is a proven ex-banker Eastman Narangoda who counts 40 years in the country’s financial sector where he served as general manager of the National Savings Bank and later as chairman of the Seylan Bank. Ranatunga also has the former Sri Lanka rugby fly-half and corporate promoter Asanga Seneviratne as his second vice president candidate along with rising star and secretary candidate Hirantha Perera to complete the high-profile list.

With such a cast, Ranatunga in an interview with the Sunday Observer claimed that his team was as clean as a whistle with results to go by while his opponents have nothing to showcase at the January 3 ballot.

Excerpts of the interview:

Question: Just why are you seeking office, you have been in cricket administration for more than five years and why should anyone vote for you this time?

Answer: Well I have done justice to the board (Sri Lanka Cricket). When I assumed duties as a secretary four years back there were no tender procedures which we had to implement for good governance. The people who benefitted in the absence of tender procedures are no longer in our camp. They have joined the other camp for their personal benefit. Financially we did well to increase our revenue by 600 percent. One good example was that the Sri Lanka team which was branded for Rs.350 million for a four year period was successfully put up for Rs.1.2 billion for a three year period. On top of that, at the time we discharged our duties the Sri Lanka team was in the top three in all formats of cricket.

Q: Did you expect the kind of intense run-up to the election with accusations and rejections raising so much uncertainty?

A: When it comes to elections at SLC it is always the case. When there was a request from the (voting) membership for me to come forward as the president I thought it was high time since I was with the Board way back in 1991. Later I was secretary for the last four years, a vice president and later president. With my experience in the private sector and in the cricketing fraternity I thought the time is right for a contest.

Q: But your main rival Thilanga Sumathipala contends that you were just a good Number Two, meaning Secretary who has never contested an election and won as president. Where do you stand against his assessment of you?

A: Elections are there to be won or lost and I have never lost an election. I know that with the support I have from the stakeholders I am going to win. Being Number One or Two does not make a difference. If he (Sumathipala) is talking about me Number Two as a good administrator, then number Two and One does not make a big difference. Some of the Number Ones and Twos and Threes who worked with me are in his (Sumathipala) camp.

He needs to analyse and see the contribution they made for the game of cricket versus what we have done and the team that is with us.

Q: But Sumathipala says he’s got the best team to deliver?

A: Well not only that, he says people have requested him to come forward as the system was not doing well. He also says people who have been serving the Board as presidents are also with him. So if the system was not good and if he is inviting the same people who served in that system to work with him, then you can just realize what is going to happen to Sri Lanka cricket and what decision the stakeholders (voters) are going to take. He is inviting the same people who served the cricket board like former presidents, vice presidents and secretaries to back him because he cannot get the support of clean people with a vision.

Q: Sumathipala has a six-point plan. What do you have?

A: We are not going to counter any strategies put forward by the opposition. We have our own plan. Our focus will be school cricket which needs a lot of attention. There is no support for school cricket from governments, the Education Ministry or the Sports Ministry in terms of funding. We as the Board should look after their interests and support them to the maximum. For example from age nine to 19 the cricketer is developed by the school and when he is 19 he is 70 percent done as a cricketer. The balance 30 percent has to be done through the cricketing system, either club or district or national academies. The model that we have announced is that all our stakeholders are shareholders of SLC and whatever the revenues that we get we will pass a percentage to them for developing infrastructure and the quality of the tournament, the technical aspects of coaching, curators and things like that.

There are good things they (Interim Committee) have done as well as damaging things that they have done. On the question of managing and in terms of people appointed by the former Minister, other than the two people who were appointed from the Board the others we all people with credibility. I feel they have done a reasonable job but they don’t know the practical situation in the cricketing system. That had created problems for the cricketers. For example we had a hundred cricketers (on contract) and they reduced it to 45. Some of the cricketers who were training full-time without funding went away to other countries. The coaching system has been a disaster. If you were to look at our cricketing system at the time we relinquished our duties, Sri Lanka was first in the T20 rankings, second and third in one-dayers and Test cricket. Today we have fallen to the seventh and eighth positions. Performance-wise I don’t think they (Interim Committee) can talk much.

Q: Talking about player contracts and managing them, you put your feet down and told the players what they should be doing or not doing when it came to financial matters.. Did it work for Sri Lanka and is that policy going to be the same?

A: Our policy is to look after all our stakeholders. The players form one set of the stakeholders. There are others who administer cricket. If not for the club and district system and the school system, cricket in this country cannot move forward. So it’s not just the cricketers we need to look after. We need to look after the cricketing stakeholders who support the game and develop players. We will have an equal distribution in supporting them with the funding and any other support.

Q: It appears that you have settled differences with your brothers including Arjuna Ranatunga. What was the turning point?

A: Before I decided on contesting I saw a few reports in the media that said Arjuna was coming forward (as president) for the election. But he told us that with the workload he might not be able to be around full time and we also found out he should have served in the Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket for two years to contest the presidency. In fact we wanted to support him (Arjuna) for the presidency but he said no ‘I should not go and ask for favours (permission) from the sports minister to contest the presidency’ but instead go through the process and when things are right he will one day take cricket forward (as president).

Q: So what role will Arjuna play as a vice president in your team?

A: Well, it’s a big advantage getting Arjuna into the system with his cricket knowledge. Before I started campaigning I have been to the north and east of the country and worked quite hard in developing north-east cricket. Over the past two years we have developed over 60 wickets (playing pitches) in the north and east. The talent in the north and east is something that we can depend on in the future. The boys in the north and east are strong and hardworking and we need to support them. We have an accelerated program to bring school cricket forward and Arjuna (Ranatunga) as the vice president candidate has taken over school cricket and is keen to develop it and we are certain this is going to work.

Q: How confident are you of pulling this one off?

A: I am a hundred percent with the support of stakeholders who know what I have been doing. We have given them our vision and how they are going to benefit.