Back coach, allow him freedom
LANKA IN TURMOIL The national board has ignored advice by stalwarts and allowed too many firstclass teams, which has diluted the standard of the game
most fringe players tend to shuttle between Australia and England to play grade and league cricket. This has further diluted the level of competition in Sri Lankan domestic cricket. There have been calls to increase match fees and provide contracts to first-class cricketers, but that has not been done. Part of the problem is that there are about 350 firstclass cricketers after the number of teams was increased. A limited number of firstclass teams, as Sanga, Mahela and Aravinada wanted, would have catered to about 100 first-class cricketers.
TRUST MISSING
After being let down on numerous occasions, there’s little trust among former players that authorities are genuinely interested in fixing cricket woes . Former players in the past have been asked to be part of various committees, but their suggestions have been discarded. A few months back when the current Sports Minister Faizer Mustapaha welcomed De Silva, Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Roshan Mahanama to give suggestions, they turned down the request.
SLC has also failed to invest in infrastructure. The board had a blueprint and wanted to put in place a high-performance training centre. Bangladesh Cricket Board borrowed Sri Lanka’s idea and has come up with high-quality training centres. Sri Lanka instead invested their money on futile projects. Constructing an international ground at Hambantota at the electorate of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa cost SLC an arm and a leg. SLC’s debts increased to millions of dollars. The money spent on vanity projects would have been better utilised in improving infrastructure.
FAILED T20 LEAGUE
Bangladesh have made quite an impact in the sport in recent times and the Bangladesh Premier League has helped their players develop. Sri Lanka have tried several times to start a T20 league, but the effort has failed.
Tampering with the coaching department also has affected Sri Lankan cricket. Jerome Jayaratne, a qualified coach had headed the unit for over 15 years and there was a system in place. But two years ago, he was replaced by Englishman Simon Willis. He wasn’t successful in the role and stepped down in June. SLC replaced him with former Test cricketer Asanka Gurusinha, who is not a career coach. Jayaratne is still employed by SLC as Chief Operating Officer and sending him back to head the coaching department could help fix some problems.
The future looks bleak for Sri Lanka unless they take some tough decisions. Not a single Sri Lankan player features among the top-10 in rankings for batsmen or bowlers in both ODI and T20 cricket.