(FormerNationalWomen’sCricketerand President-ColomboDistrictWomen’sCricketAssociation)

Women’s Cricket in SL was inaugurated almost 40 years ago. We have been participating in all ICC World Cup tournaments and Asia Cup tournaments, but have not made any progress in the game during the past few years. Our Men’s team won the World Cup, T20 World Cup and the Asia Cup. Hence, we should feel ashamed looking back at Women’s Cricket in SL. We have not won any major title or series in this game. We cannot be satisfied with the performances of the Women’s Cricket team, just because of winning a match or Best Player in a particular game. But countries which started playing Women’s Cricket recently, have made vast strides in the game. Bangladesh, West Indies and India have made huge improvements in their game. We have won only a handful of matches at international level. No doubt, we have some talented players in the country. But unfortunately, these talented players do not receive proper direction. Our Women have won Olympic medals, World Athletic Championship medals, Commonwealth Games medals, Asian Games medals and several other international medals. The SL Women’s Cricket team could also make an impact like the Athletes in the past. The main reason for this setback is because we do not have a proper plan for the development of the game. Some of our better Cricketers have been deliberately sidelined by the authorities. They do not have a chance to prove themselves. Only a handful of cricketers dominate the game in the country. The involvement of men in the administration of Women’s Cricket has also contributed to the downfall of the game. A lot of promising players have decided to keep away due to the entry of men into Woman’s Cricket administration. In fact, there were allegations of sexual harassment by some of the officials as well, in the recent past. As a result, parents are reluctant to send their daughters for Women’s Cricket. I think the Women’s Cricket should be administered entirely by women. This has been the practice in almost all other countries. If we can change this situation, we should be able to win more tournaments and series and dominate Women’s Cricket. We have also requested the authorities to hand over the administration of Women’s Cricket to some of the past Women Cricketers. But to date, they have not looked into this issue.