Dear minister; this may be interesting

Did it come on second thoughts where the authorities are concerned? But the new sport shirt put on Minister Navin Dissanayake is as bright as the one he wore on the day of swearing-in.

There are some people when they take upon a challenge they tend to wade into unknown territory. At times it comes in as an impediment. But, for Navin most of his life was spent with politicians – which also became the major influence for his present trait. Yet, there was also a part of his life that he spent with cricketers, cricket administrators and people who walk the path of cricket. That was when his father Gamini Dissanayake got involved in the game while being the Minister of Mahaweli in the J.R. Jayewardene administration in the late seventies and took up a challenge which was somewhat alien to him at that time. However, the manner in which he accomplished that task was exemplary. What he achieved had very little for himself, but, for the game of cricket it became a new beginning. From that point Sri Lankan cricket never looked back.

We were talking about cricket and the new minister’s background that fits into it. But, wearing the Sports Minister’s hat is a heavy load. It is certainly an unexplored ground to him. As I said last week in my search for Godot, in Sri Lanka there is not a single sport that is experiencing an upward trend.

For instance, out of the 48 sports that come under the purview of the Minister of Sports, so far the most result-oriented have been only cricket and athletics. These two are the only disciplines that have brought the country onto the pedestal of the world sports arena. I always argue that sports in this country have produced more world figures than politics has managed since the turn of the last century.

A decade ago, Sri Lanka’s athletics was thriving or it looked as if it was so. We had just made a visit to the stars with Susanthika Jayasinghe setting Asia ablaze by winning a sprint medal at the 2000 Olympics. There were also others like Sugath Tillekeratne, Damayanthi Dharsha and Sriyani Kulawansa who could bring home a medal at many world class meets. But, that was the end of the trail of a blazing shooting star.

Right now our athletics is running backwards. We are groping in the dark looking for someone to give up the walking stick and sprint towards the tape. But, now even at regional level it has become an uphill task.

Those in power misused sports paying scant respect to it. If not they wouldn’t have played hide and seek with an international meet such as the Asian Youth games 2017, a spectacle which we are about to lose the hosting rights—or have we lost it already and the Dons are hiding the true picture?

The Sugathadasa Stadium -- which holds the only international track in the country -- is in complete disarray. It would be interesting for you to find out as to what transpired during the re-laying of the track a while ago. Now all what the athletes have is a damaged track that is not suitable for top grade athletics.

The alternate Diyagama track is not of International Standards. So, then certainly Sri Lanka is out of contention where international athletics are concerned. Yet, who cares, for the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow a merry load of 114 athletes and 41 officials took a joy ride to bring back a miserly Silver medal. Was it worth the effort?

Majority of the other sports are also in the same plight. In Football Blatters come and go. There are thamashas with the cream of the Colombo society attending. Leave alone the development of the given sport, some of the speakers were so ignorant of the game and its international figures that one of them called an honoured guest Mr. Al-Qaeda. Outside on the field, poorly trained and poorly fed Lankan footballers get thrashed even from non-entities like the Maldives.

Rugby showed some progress in the Asian region, but, the ingredients that went into that soup also could be analysed.

Cricket is the subject the minister might recognise. Still there are his father’s friends like Nuski Mohammed walking down the corridors of Sri Lanka Cricket, morning, noon and night. But, the stark reality is that even though this game is a money spinner, management of the game went haywire more than a decade ago and it has been going down since then.

There is a growing gap between the standard of cricket between the Lankan first class and International requirements. Yes, Sri Lanka has been in the finals of the last two World Cups and won the T-20 ICC trophy last year. It was largely owing to the efforts of the five seniors -- Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, T.M. Dilshan, Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga. They came into the game during the last pre-decay infuse.

Just imagine besides these five cricketers and the national captain Angelo Mathews, are there any cricketers in Sri Lanka who command a regular place in all three disciplines? Thisara Perera may be there for the T20s. Besides him, there is none.

Take the present New Zealand limited overs tournament. Right now we are experiencing a rare Angelo Mathew flop. The result, once again, the Lankan middle order is stark naked. There is no batsman who can do a Corey Anderson or a Joe Butler. I mean a good hundred in the middle by a newcomer. Well Thisara Perera may be good for a 40-50 in 33 balls and Jeewan Mendis a quick 17 in seven balls, but a solid inning that would certainly turn the tide of a game could not be expected from them. Moreover, they are included in the side as genuine allrounders, but could either of these two bowlers even do an Angelo Mathews with the ball?

There are many reasons for the game of cricket to stagnate. We have failed to arrest the growth of the game in the country since the World Cup win in 1996 and re-direct it into a proper channel that the growth of the game would be beneficial to the country rather than just adding numbers.

It is a proven fact that the club structure is a weaning system and new ideas that keep our cricket aligned with the International requirements has been a crying need for the past ten years. Right now we are doing bits and pieces of cricket on the surface and these ad hoc measures may take our cricket for the next five years or a decade the most. But, if proper measures are not taken to arrest the rot, Lankan cricket will carry worse problems than the present Caribbean cricket woes of the West Indies.

Finally the truth is the present system of administration does not work in Sri Lanka even though it depicts to be democratic. Interested parties in various guises keep exploiting and plundering the huge tree of cricket milking away the sap and not giving the produce back to the game for its sustenance. The more you go into the matter the more you will learn.

We from this end suggest – a “Yahapalanaya”. Name an executive council to overlook matters, but, let the SLC be run by a set of professionals picked by the cricket fraternity. Let cricket run akin to a no frill company that works for the growth of the product.

PS: Your opening statement was to the point: First three priorities – the World Cup. Be it, but being mindful is the best form of defence as well as attack.