Dayasiri ready to dissolve SLC if restructuring not implemented

By Skandha Gunaekara

Minister of Sports Dayasiri Jayasekara yesterday vowed to dissolve the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Board if the proposed restructuring of the Board was not implemented by the SLC.

Addressing the weekly cabinet press briefing, Co-Cabinet spokesman Minister Jayasekara said that there were serious shortcomings within the SLC, with the foremost being the excessive number of votes and elections it conducts internally.

The Minister said that he had discussed the issue of developing national cricket with former national players Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who had proposed a restructuring of the SLC as well as the advancement of domestic cricket.  “One of the main problems within the SLC is their bureaucracy and the high number of elections that they conduct. We have come up with a plan to restructure SLC and significantly reduce the number of elections. I will dissolve the SLC with the powers vested in me as the Minister of Sports if this restructuring is not carried out,” he said. 

Furthermore, the Minister said that during his discussions with the two veteran cricketers it was proposed that a program be implemented to improve Lankan cricket at the domestic level.

This was to be done by dividing the country into four provinces where 20 of the best players from each province would be picked to be pooled for selections to the national team.

“Each of these four provinces will have a selector who will be tasked with selecting 15-20 of the best players in each province. These players will be put in one group of about 80 players from which we will make selections for the national team,” he explained, adding that current Tier A domestic cricketers would be amalgamated with the Tier B cricketers. 

With regard to the recent incident where the national One Day International (ODI) team was asked to return from the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) as they were about to board a plane to India for a series there, the Minister said that he had taken the decision to recall the ODI team as he had not approved the team prior to its departure. 

“The decision to send the ODI team was taken without my knowledge by someone within the SLC. Even SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala didn’t know of this as he would normally meet the team in person before their departure to wish them luck. I have asked Mr. Sumathipala to carry out an investigation to ascertain who from within the SLC was responsible for this blunder,” said the Minister while noting that whoever was found responsible would have to personally pay the charges for delaying the flight.

Furthermore, the Minister said he could not agree with the decision to switch captains of the national team for every tournament. 

“A captain, once selected, must have the opportunity to grow into his responsibilities and for this he needs time. Therefore I’m against such a policy of alternating captains after every tournament.”