The person who was seated in front of me did give away his inner emotions. He looked a man who was losing his patience on a subject that has been the talking point in cricketing circles for some time. Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage did not like what was going on across the road from his office at Independence Square.
While Sri Lanka Cricket sat bolted a few metres away from his office at Maitland Place, the Minister gave the Sunday Times an exclusive interview on the current affairs of cricket and what he intends doing about it.
A few months ago, Sri Lanka’s cricket was run by a politically driven interim committee. Besides the people involved with the direct administration of the game, nobody else including the ICC – the game’s custodian -- liked it. Under pressure, with the turn of 2012 the game returned to its perennial footing where the clubs and other controlling parties were handed back the reins of cricket.
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| Sports Minister stresses a point. |
We have spoken of this before and would indulge in it briefly once again. The reason for the emergence of the interim committee culture in cricket was a direct result of the degradation of the club system in the island. At a point of history certain individuals had ‘virused’ (If I may coin a new word to describe the plight of cricket) the system so much that it had cascaded into a bicycle made for one. In short there was only one-man (or his puppets) who could have come to power at a cricket election. The system had deteriorated to that extent. No one in a right mind wanted to challenge the status quo in a so-called free and fair democratic manner. So the next best thing was to have a politically inspired transition and the introduction of the interim committee system.
At present the ball is back in the hands of the elected system. Ironically yet the ball is not spinning in the intended direction.
As a result of this hullabaloo the core of the game has suffered. The school cricket system is in utter disarray and the products coming out of the pipeline cannot find a place in a Club Xl on just credentials like in the past; the talent that we used to see in school cricket is no more. Please do not get disturbed… no, the club standards have not gone up either.
The club system is another tale of woe. By the hour the gap between the international standard of cricket and the club cricket of Sri Lankan is widening. There are flaws in the structure, yet nobody in the cricket administration is willing to captain the cause. This is where the major fault lies.
The Minister said: “We are aware that the club cricket system is flawed cricket wise, because there are too many clubs playing first class cricket. Twenty clubs is far too much for our system as I learn. Now I have appointed a committee and asked them to derive a system that would be effective and suite the requirements of Sri Lanka cricket. They have to do so within a month.
“We spend about 80 per cent of our income just to pay the stipends of the contracted cricketers. Yet what we find is quantity and very little quality. “At the same time I am not happy with the prevailing system where the top administration has to look after the clubs and individuals rather than working for the betterment of the game. This is a direct result of having elections every year. To be honest I am not pleased with the speed of action even in the current cricket administration. They started in January. Yet up to now the progress has been slow and I know why. They are bent on pleasing the clubs and officials because at the end of the year there will be another election and if the right things have not been done to the right people they will not get reelected.”
The minister then picked the first rabbit out of his hat. “We are bringing some changes into the Sports Law. This new law will apply to all sports in general. We are extending the tenure of office in sports associations from one year to four years. This will happen with an initial term of two years in office after being elected and then another two years approved by the minister ascertaining the performance during the elected period.”
The minister explained what prompted this decision. He said firstly it was to thwart the pressure brought on by the ‘vote’ mentality of the officialdom and their haste to take tough decisions as a result. Overly it is also because the important global sports events like the Cricket World Cup and the Olympics come every four years and at that point a four-year tenure in office a team could be more effective in accomplishing a given task.
There were some other changes that the minister is keen to implement. In future there would be ban on persons who are involved in the business of sports goods to hold office at SLC. The minister is of the view that this trend should be discouraged at all costs as it could lead to all kinds of malpractices.
Another change that will come to effect is that kith and kin of players who are involved with the game cannot be in the selection panel. “I have heard that some fathers of school cricketers who are to be selected for certain tours have sat at selection panels. This is an aspect that we should eliminate so that the correct decisions are made when it comes to selections,”.
Delving on to the subject of school cricket the minister said though it does not come under his purview he has had a few rounds of discussions with the Minister of education on the subject as Sri Lanka Cricket is very keen to streamline the school cricket system in a workable framework. As SLC does not have any power to get involved with school cricket he has taken on the onus of working with the minister of education. |
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