• Rubbishes canards and allays fears of ICC backlash
• Affirms will not stay for perpetuity

President’s Counsel Dinal Phillips the caretaker treasurer of Sri Lanka Cricket’s Transformation Committee allaying fears of an alleged ICC backlash said that a paradigm -shift in the controlling body’s governance structure allied to its Constitution is in the offing.

He unequivocally dismissed recent media reports of a perceived threat from the sport’s global governing body to hasten elections and avert a possible suspension of its membership.

This was in the aftermath of the recent whistle-stop visit to Colombo by ICC Chair Jay Shah and BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia where the duo had met with the country’s political leadership and those from the interim administration installed last April.

“We told the President of the ICC that we have a working draft with regard to the SLC Constitution,” Phillips PC, told reporters during its monthly media briefing held at SLC headquarters last morning.

“In fact he (ICC Chair) was very pleasantly surprised that we’ve done it in such record time. He was quite pleased with that and we also indicated to him that we don’t intend to remain here for perpetuity. We do our job and out we go.”

He elaborated that the new Constitution being formulated will be in line with the ICC constitution itself and on par with other cricketing nations. 

The President’s Counsel observed that the nine-member strong caretaker committee had also hired the former Head of Legal of the Dubai-based global body David Becker to guide them in the ongoing process.

“It won’t be an out and out home-grown module, but it will also incorporate elements from other cricket boards as well as input from Becker who in fact came here at his own cost where he helped us for three days.”

He pointed out that the Constitution which is still in the works will entail definite guidelines while extending the prohibition on people from seeking office who have been banned by the world body. 

Phillips expressed his dismay at certain media outlets not having the gumption to fact-check with his Committee on the outcome of recent talks with the head of the ICC and warning of possible consequences from the latter over the failure to clear the decks for an elected Ex-Co.

“I was extremely disappointed with such reports. If they had only called us we could have put them at ease. But, what transpired at the discussions is entirely contrary to what has been reported by certain media outlets.”  

The interim secretary of the Transformation Committee Prakash Schaffter stopped short of going into the nuts and bolts of the proposed new Constitution to the Maitland Place institution.

“As we are still working on the draft and as it is in the final stages, I think it would be inappropriate for us to comment on it right now,” he said.

“As it still needs certain approvals from the Legal Draftsman’s Department and the Attorney General’s Department, and as it can change, I think it would be improper for us to speculate on the final draft.”

The duo insisted that the new governance structure will also feature independent directors, strict accountability measures and compulsory female representation in leadership, and explained it remained subject to further review and approval before its ratification.

The Committee Chair Eran Wickramaratne who noticeably arrived late for the briefing stated that it is still impossible to give a specific time frame as to when the process of adopting the new Constitution would end.

He noted that his Committee has only been in office for seven weeks and added that during that time span they have been occupied with the primary task of drafting the said Constitution.

The ex-lawmaker stressed that the Constitution once drafted will be handed over to the Government for the due Parliamentary procedures.

He opined where upon its tabling it will be available for the public to petition the Courts on its demerits and lastly its enactment after three readings by the House.

Jaffna International Stadium beyond SLC’s scope: Prakash

SLC Transformation Committee Secretary Prakash Schaffter emphasised that the interim administration has called for a review of the final project it intends to have linked to the construction of the proposed Jaffna International Cricket Stadium.

He stated that their review of the originally approved project was beyond the scope of the SLC, while not possessing the required finances to see to its completion.

Schaffter added that although his Committee is committed to having a cricket ground in the Peninsula, they will be reviewing the extent to which they could invest via the project in light of its current funding capacity.

The original Jaffna International Cricket Stadium project had been mooted to include a sports city and a housing project by the previous SLC Ex-Co headed by Shammi Silva.