Then came the cricketers

In spite of Lankan cricket exploits in England the local cricket administration was navigating through rough seas during the past weeks, since the minister of sports Jeewan Kumaratunga called for fresh elections to man a new governing body to overlook the fate of the most popular sport in Sri Lanka.

At the initial stages there was one difference from the scenario that prevailed from the one that was there for the past decade or so. During this time Sri Lanka’s cricket administration was a one horse race with nobody within sight to pose a challenge to the powerful Thilanga Sumathipala camp. Yes, from time to time there were people who stood up to the challenge, but the power of what it means to be there saw to it that whoever came up as an alternate power base was being cast away into oblivion. This situation also prompted another twist. Whenever the incumbent ministers were convinced that the elected administrations were stepping out of line, they unhesitatingly appointed Interim Administrative bodies as stop gaps until the atmosphere was conducive to call for fresh elections. However for this election the incumbent Interim Committee chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa was coming into the fray as Sumathipala’s challenger with the blessings of the government.Nevertheless the campaign got off to a blistering start. The horse trading was rampant. The people who held the keys to the 147 votes became the most important people that mattered in cricket. In one instance the Tamil Union a club with a rich history in Cricket, but overlooked by one camp was successfully approached through its president, but at the vital internal vote as to which side the club was going to back at the SLC elections, the president had to retreat as the majority of the ex-co thought otherwise. In another development it is said that one of the contestants had to camp his outstation supporters in a Colombo tower so that his opposition could not reach them to screw up their minds.

In short it was utter chaos in the Sri Lankan cricketing world.

Watching all these developments and feeling sorry for the parlous state of affairs was a bunch of past cricketers who were genuinely concerned. After a couple of meetings they arrived at the conclusion that the time was ripe for them to step in and save the game from its present status.

As a result the past cricketers decided that they were not going to form an alliance and contest the elections, but they would come out and offer their services to both feuding parties so that the cricketng aspect of it was to be looked after by them while the administrative side of the body could be manned by any of the respective parties who would come into power. They requested for eleven out of the twenty two positions that were in offer in the ex.co.

When they met the first contestant Jayantha Dharmadasa they received a very positive reply but, when they met Thilanga Sumathipala the response was rather negative. At their meeting with Thilanga Sumathipala it is reported that they were told that the former may look into the possibilities of accommodating a couple of cricketers into his administration, but, that too would be after a personal interview and besides that they would have to operate under his agenda. That was the end of that meeting.

The next day when The Sunday Times inquired from the cricketers what their stand on the matter further was, they appointed Sidath Wettimuny to air their views on behalf of themselves. Meanwhile a meeting was arranged between the past cricketers and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

For this meeting government member of parliament Arjuna Ranatunge in his capacity as a past cricket captain of Sri Lanka led a team of eleven players. The team comprised Arjuna Ranatunge, Sidath Wettimuny, Roshan Mahanama, Don Anurasiri, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, Kapila Wijegunawardena, Ken de Alwis, Ranil Abeynaike, Graeme Labrooy and Uvaisul Karnain.

The meeting got off to a start with President Rajapaksa referring to The Sunday Times article and adding that he had got an insight into their thoughts from it. At the meeting the cricketers had expressed their reservations about the current status quo and the way the election scenario is heading and requested the President to take some meaningful steps regarding this parlous state of affairs. The cricketers once again indicated that they could work with any administration and they were only interested in having a say over things that directly involves the game of cricket. In reply the president also had replied saying that he was aware of the happenings in the cricketing world in Sri Lanka and promised that he would appoint two joint presidents from the feuding parties, an independent treasurer and five past cricketers of their choice to man the rest of the SLC executive committee. He said this body will run till the end of the next Would Cup, the area which the past cricketers were mostly concerned about.

The next day one of the contesting members Jayantha Dharmadasa had a meeting with the president, but he was told the SLC elections will not be held and instead there will be a new look interim committee. Meanwhile the Sumathipala camp too came up with a separate proposal to have an Interim Committee which comprised four members each from the three different camps. Ironically when the Minister of Sports promulgated annulment of the SLC elections his statement was to the effect that the present Interim Committee would continue sans any changes.

Then on Friday an embarrassed President convened another meeting with the past cricketers. There he had explained that there was a slight miscommunication on the matter and it would be rectified to its original status of two joint chairmen and five cricketers in the Interim Committee early this week.

Meanwhile the Thilanga camp candidate Mohan de Silva called up the press and reiterated that postponing the elections at the eleventh hour was unreasonable and they saw this as a deliberate move to prevent a win of theirs. However when asked if they agree to a joint committee as proposed by the president de Silva said “As a matter of policy we do not believe in Interim Committees, but if we are approached on those lines we will definitely consider the offer, but, the composition of the committee should have a proper balance and also must suit our work programme”

Finally the past cricketers who also had convened a meeting with over three hundred cricketers who met at the Taj Samudra Hotel postponed their meeting until tomorrow evening with a ‘wait and see policy’ just to ascertain what the minister of sports would do upon their second meeting with the President on Friday.