Minister's action - better late than never!

By Gunasiri WANIGARATHNE

CRICKET: All cricket loving public in Sri Lanka and abroad will join me in ushering congratulations to the Minister of Sports for the dissolution of the SLC Interim Committee amidst allegations of corruption and mismanagement, both in funds and personnel.

Although the action arrived rather belatedly due to sins of omissions and commissions, the revelations that appeared in the wider media about the SLC's conduct was astounding, if not shocking.

The leader of the pack D.S.de Silva on whom we all had high hopes, has now become a failure together with his team members, discredited and disowned.

At this juncture, it is worthwhile to pause for a moment and reflect on the thoughts of his elder brother D.H. de Silva, who dedicated his energies to break the barriers of archetypical Ceylon Cricket and create a sociological split in the sports, as a All-Ceylon Cricketer, leader, administrate selector and a coach. On reflections, his fortification may be one of dismay and disgust .

This behavioural instability in Sri Lankan, Cricket is nothing new, a perennial problem sadly suffered from both past and present cricket boards bringing the game from sublime to a ridiculous statues.

Another example from the not so distant past is the construction of Galle International Cricket Stadium at a price, an eyesore to the habitants of Galle and as some pundits say a white elephant. A former president of the board, who also hailed from Colombo, became President of the historical Galle Cricket Club and had the tenacity to shift the club from its premier position to the sidelines. Following litigation towards alleged vote rigging for re-election, the gentleman honourably resigned. Yet the Galle Cricket Club is literally non-existent and is a sorry state, the pioneers of Southern Province Cricket is not even playing in the S.L. Premier Division and the auditors still turning the pages of final financial statements, that led to the construction of Galle Stadium.

Independent bodies must investigate

This is just one example of many more that failed to come to limelight, but the crux of the matter for the Minister is to appoint independent bodies to investigate those misdemeanours, once and for all and bring the culprits to book and let them learn the lessons.

After all we are about to embark on a new journey full of aspirations and love & light for the game of cricket. Let us meet the criteria set by the world governing body today in electing the new SLC Board in the coming year and set an example, rather than waiting for two years for the electors to be free of political interferences and affiliations. This will be for greater good of the game, a moral boosting scenario for our cricketers and breeding youngsters alike a primafacie, without whom no board will exist.

In effect this ruling will be a blessing in disguise to foresee future Sri Lankan Cricket Boards full of promise, barred from clans, business groups not driven by personal or financial gains, free of nepotism in appointments. The boards must portray, love for the game, promote excellence with efficiency personified, an organisational structure full of ethics and ethos, a strict code of conduct and not least taking the sport of cricket back to school with vigorous venom and of course.

There should be devoted coaches, making it an attractive proposition for our future with graded badges, not only to teach the outscoring or the on drive but for reaching aspects of the modern game - communication to psychology,

So that all our future generations of crickets from length and breath of Mother Lanka will be all round ambassadors for the sport with elegance.

Cricket - Sri Lanka world class

Cricket is the only sport that purports Sri Lanka to be world class. Let us rejoice and gain invigoration from this ideology and not to let it slip away. Hence we have to dedicate ourselves in finding young men who might conceivably be candidates for a career in cricket - Our future and make the odds of achieving same attractive.

For this we need solid foundations leading from feature boards to grass root levels and imbibed into the philosophy of the board and a comprehensive statement of purpose promoting the game for the greater good of the game of cricket.

At presents, Sri Lanka cricket is in disarray with some-innocuous mistakes, not to mention the mismanagement. For example, coach, Stuart Law is abandoning his position and leaving to Bangladesh, in the middle of a tour of England. This indecisiveness by the Interim committee shows poor decision making abilities and creation of uncertainty all around.

SLC 15 million dollars in debt

Add insult to injury, the SLC is in debt to the tune of 15 million dollars I trust the Minister will invite independent auditors to investigate proper appropriation of accounts and to search the whereabouts of vanished millions of dollars, whether in travelling expenses, building stadia or exorbitant salary structures. As an official put it, even though financial accounts have disappeared, mysterious it may be, yet it is stored in the hard disc, at least some relief.

Now to the future and let us make it bright, raise morale of the players, both past and present. After all without the players who toil terribly on the playing fields, there is no cricket.

Let us give them hope and serenity to rebuild and boost morale on playing this regal and beautiful game of cricket and maintains World Class