Minister of Petroleum Resources Development and former National Cricket Captain Arjuna Ranatunga appealed to Sri Lanka cricket fans to behave in an orderly manner and not to tarnish the image of the country in the future, at a press briefing held at Ceypetco House auditorium, Dematagoda yesterday.
The Minister has informed by letter to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the present status of Sri Lanka cricket. The Minister further said, that without corrupting the people’s mandate, time has come to end the destruction of cricket and he also suggested to change the shortsighted present cricket administration into an Interim Committee or a commissioner.
“In the election organized by the Sports Ministry, in spite of general request from cricket lovers to contest presidency, I decided to contest for the vice presidency with the experience and the knowledge I had about cricket I have to save the game from this disaster. But the officials of the Sports Ministry contributed to election violations, breaking all existing rules and regulations. There is prohibition by law for those who are connected with gambling and game of betting to contest for national association in connection with sports. We all know that the present Sri Lanka Cricket president came from a family connected to betting and gambling. Three previous ministers have rejected the application forwarded by him. In spite of this status it was an incorrect decision made by the present Minister of Sports. Consequently, I also as a Minister had to appeal to the Human Rights Commission about this irregularity. I repeatedly remind you, the Prime Minister and the other responsible people that this is the time, we all have to take serious steps regarding this unfortunate situation.”
“There are lots of cricket-lovers who feel unhappy when Sri Lanka loses. Our cricketers have made a huge sacrifice to participate in International matches. They don’t have time to spend with their family when they practice the whole day. Their mental status has fallen due to weaknesses of current cricket administration. Some unnecessary incidents have happened, like some cricketers being summoned to FCID.
Present cricket administration is unaware how to properly administer.They have not established an appropriate procedure to upgrade the mental status of cricketers during the matches. Hence I request from cricket lovers not to behave in an unruly manner, like Indians fans. We have a great culture and history. Therefore, I kindly request from cricket-lovers not to hoot at cricketers. The cricket administration is directly responsible for this disastrous situation. Earlier, cricketers were confident that they will be retained in the team, but now they don’t know whether they will play in the next match. I always said that our best cricketers are Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne but they did not pay attention to it. Around 40-50 cricketers were brought to the national team from club teams of the officials.There should not be political influence in cricket. But the politicians like Gamini Dissanayake and Tyronne Fernando sacrificed lot to upgrade cricket. An election to SLC should be held in a democratic manner. I insist for change. I fulfilled my responsibility by giving a letter to the President and Prime Minister said Ranatunga in conclusion.
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