Sri Lanka\u2019s new Interim Committee, helmed by Eran Wickramaratne, has walked out to bat amid a swell of cautious optimism, with cricket lovers hoping the ship can finally be steadied after years of choppy waters. Yet even before the ink has dried, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive, peddling the tired line that failure to hold elections within three months will invite an ICC suspension. That, to put it mildly, is a cock and bull story.<\/p>\n
Interim Committees are not alien to Sri Lankan cricket, nor are they frowned upon by the International Cricket Council. In fact, many of the earlier ones, led by men of standing, came in, rolled up their sleeves and put the house in order.<\/p>\n
The rot, as many would argue, set in during the era of Mahinda Rajapaksa, when such Interim Committees were used less as repair kits and more as patronage platforms. Mahinda used the cricket board to give positions to his friends. He was always loyal to his friends. In turn, his friends showed their loyalty back to Mahinda by awarding the lucrative television deal of SLC to his second son\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
This current Interim Committee, however, reads like a team sheet you wouldn\u2019t mind backing. When you have a former Marylebone Cricket Club President in Kumar Sangakkara, a seasoned ICC match referee in Roshan Mahanama and a respected elder statesman in Sidath Wettimuny, you\u2019re hardly short on cricketing brains trust. Add to that the corporate acumen of Prakash Schaffter and the legal nous of Dinal Phillips, and it\u2019s an all-round side with depth in every department. As Tony Greig once said during a game in Sharjah, \u2018Don\u2019t tell anything nasty about Sri Lankan cricket to Dinal Phillips.\u2019<\/p>\n
They hardly need advice from the cheap seats, but anyway, here\u2019s our two cents.<\/p>\n
First, selection; the engine room of any successful side. Get that wrong and you\u2019re forever chasing the game. Whether it\u2019s Sangakkara, Wettimuny or Mahanama taking the reins, or someone cut from similar cloth, the message is simple: pick a selector who knows his onions. A bull in a China shop is less troublesome than the man heading selections at the moment.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the elephant in the pavilion \u2013 Test cricket. Between July 2025 and June 2026, Sri Lanka hasn\u2019t got a single Test match. Not one. For a nation that once fought tooth and nail for Test status under the stewardship of Gamini Dissanayake, this is sacrilege. The great man must be turning in his grave.<\/p>\n
While the Executive Committee has packed its bags, the top executives still loiter at Maitland Place like a night watchman that refuses to vacate after a collapse. Expect the usual stock responses \u2013 Test cricket isn\u2019t profitable, or the calendar is dictated by the World Test Championship. But such thinking is as outdated as playing timeless Tests. Institutions don\u2019t move forward by blocking on the back foot forever. Fresh ideas are needed and perhaps a few long-standing occupants need to walk before they\u2019re shown the pavilion.<\/p>\n
Schedule more Test matches, even against sides that are not part of the World Test Championship. Don\u2019t believe in the lies your top executives dish out. Tell them, if there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s cricket is another area crying out for attention. While other nations have moved the field up and attacked, Sri Lanka has been content to play defensively. At present, cricket hasn\u2019t been able to appeal to the girls in schools. The chosen sports by girls at school level are netball, basketball, swimming, badminton and athletics. Cricket, sadly doesn\u2019t come among the top ten sports of girls schools be it at Holy Family Convent in Colombo or Marjan Muslim Ladies College in Sammanthurai.<\/p>\n
The remedy isn\u2019t rocket science. Invest in schools, provide equipment, open doors. Set a target; say 500 schools playing the game within three years and chase it with intent. Provincial academies could serve as nurseries, turning raw talent into finished products. Cricket, after all, is an expensive sport; without support, many promising players are run out before they reach the crease.<\/p>\n
Other sports have shown the way. Basketball, for instance, cast its net wide post-war, tapping into regions like Jaffna and reaping the rewards. Cricket, meanwhile, has been guilty of too much talk about infrastructure and not enough about grassroots. Forget the grandstands for a moment, it\u2019s the nets that matter. Take the game to the people, coach the coaches and give emerging regions a crack at competitive cricket.<\/p>\n
The Lanka Premier League, too, has promised much but delivered in fits and starts. Like a flashy opener who flatters to deceive, it has struggled for consistency. Questionable ownerships and off-field controversies haven\u2019t helped. Perhaps it\u2019s time for Sri Lanka Cricket to play the long game \u2013 trim profits, bring in credible local investors and build a tournament that can stand the test of time rather than chasing quick bucks.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s a small but telling symbol of excess \u2013 the Minister\u2019s Box at major cricket venues. For years, it has served as a cosy enclosure for the high and mighty. Why not flip the script? Open it up for the disabled, give them a chance to watch the game in comfort. Cricket, after all, belongs to the people, not just those in high office. (Credit to the current Minister of Sports for not using the facility).<\/p>\n
The ball now is on Eran\u2019s court.<\/p>\n
by Rex Clementine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s new Interim Committee, helmed by Eran Wickramaratne, has walked out to bat amid a swell of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-646516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}