It seems that like everything else that happens in this country the independent investigation that everyone was looking forward to from Sri Lanka Cricket over the ball tampering affair and for contravening the spirit of cricket by the Sri Lanka team refusing to take the field on the third morning of the second Test against West Indies at St Lucia’s in June. has been shoved under the carpet.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had done their part by meting out the maximum punishment to Messrs. Dinesh Chandimal, Chandika Hathurusingha and Asanka Gurusinha that saw them sit out the two Tests and first four ODIs of the recently concluded series against South Africa. But one needs to really carry out an independent investigation and get to the bottom of it.
Knowing the gravity of the offence SLC should act for the future generation of cricketers, coaches, managers, and administrators. It cannot be taken lightly. SLC are the employers of the three who had been charged and should show their hand. They cannot be less tolerant and lax on such matters because it is so serious. That’s why the ICC took such a drastic action because if it goes unheeded the game is doomed.
But SLC it seems is happy to sit on the punishment handed out by the ICC and not pursue the matter any further. Two months have gone since the incident took place and SLC which is under the government appointed Competent Authority coming under the Minister of Sports has not given any indication that they are interested to proceed any further.
The SLC should know that it is the implementing authority and to implement the charges that was brought against the three individuals they should have an inquiry. It is the bounden duty of the Competent Authority Kamal Pathmasiri who has been appointed to run SLC (until the air has been cleared to hold elections) to instigates its own inquiry by appointing a disciplinary committee to inquire into the two incidents and arrive at a decision.
SLC should take a leaf out of Cricket Australia and how swiftly they handled the ball tampering scandal involving its captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and player Cameron Bancroft in the Cape Town Test against South Africa in March. The offence was so serious that it shook the entire nation and forced the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to get personally involved in bringing the perpetrators to book.
In a scenario like this where no inquiry is held on the three individuals who were suspended can you maintain discipline? SLC is very quick to pounce on kids like Jeffrey Vandersay and Danushka Gunathilaka for breaking curfews. These are trivial matters compared to what happened in the Caribbean. The suspension and fine involving Vandersay came during the ball tampering controversy and it was a convenient distraction from the more important matter at hand. If the government doesn’t see the need to intervene and clean this up what do we do? Bite our lips and wait. It’s an absolute sad state of affairs.
We have the players to win the next World Cup without a doubt. We have the talent to be no. 1 in all three formats but you must sanitize the environment and give the players a free environment to flourish. The players are there and anybody with a little bit of cricketing sense would have seen the talent we have during the Test and ODI series against South Africa. We have all the gems in the basket but no proper people to pick it.
The selection committee must treat players equally. How on earth can we write off players from the World Cup? We were told that players like Lasith Malinga, Milinda Siriwardena etc are supposed to be aged players and that the selectors were looking for youth. And then a place is given to Mahela Udawatte at 32. Plain hypocrisy. When you have a situation like that which kid will have the confidence?
The sport arena is directly linked to the welfare of our youth. That is one platform our youth has to come and engage in and display their talent. You take all the sport discipline we offer in this country, is there one sport where there is no controversy? Everywhere there is so much of unfair selection, what are we doing? We are pushing these kids into the hands of the drug peddlers, alcoholics and etc.
The government has a huge responsibility in putting things in order in the sports arena. But nobody seems to be bothered one bit about it. Everything is an eye wash. Where are we heading as a country?
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