• Says cricket more of a batting game 
• Sidath implores youth to follow in footsteps of Michael, Anura

Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage is firmly of the opinion that Sri Lanka’s cricketers are blessed with the innate ability to win at least one more One-Day International (ODI) 50-over and a T20I World Cup in the foreseeable future, saying that it is more of a batting game than a bowling game.

He said that their underwhelming performances on the field across all formats of the game in the recent past was also a result of the questionable governance style of the previous Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) administration.

However, he emphasised that the incumbent Government was determined to usher in a professional and modern governance structure in keeping with the rest of the cricketing world, expressing hope that the national team would return to its winning ways before long.

Gamage made these remarks addressing the annual Dialog Sri Lanka Cricket Awards 2025 ceremony held at Cinnamon Life, Colombo on Thursday (6) night.

“We (Sri Lanka) have so far won only one ODI World Cup and a T20I World Cup,” the Minister told a gathering of past and current cricketers, SLC officials, corporate figures, and the media.

“But our players’ innate talent is such that they could win one more 50-over and a T20I World Cup. In the recent past our team’s form had dropped alarmingly across all formats, and as much as the players were responsible for it, the actions of administrators also contributed to it and nobody can deny it.”

He continued: “However, we have changed the status quo of Sri Lanka cricket administration and I hope better days lie ahead for the team and the public.”

Sri Lanka – the 1996 50-over World Cup winners – have not won an International Cricket Council (ICC) senior men’s white-ball World Cup since 2014, when Lasith Malinga led the island nation to the T20 World Cup title, beating India in the final in Bangladesh.

The Minister said that the purpose of forming the Cricket Transformation Committee (CTC) was to align the game’s domestic governing body with constitutions of other cricket boards, and to bring forth accountability and transparency into its governance framework.

He said that cricket had already been embedded into the very fabric of the day-to-day lives of the masses, hence the fortunes of the national side across all formats of the sport were still being followed and scrutinised closely by the public.

The Minister further observed that the Government was mindful of the public’s passion towards the game, and noted that one of the reasons for the ouster of the previous SLC administration was to totally overhaul the governance structure, as it had directly impacted player performances on the pitch.

He also spoke of the Government’s intention to further enhance the profile of women’s cricket in the country, and showered praise on Chamari Athapaththu’s team on their recent twin bilateral series triumphs over the Pakistan women’s team. 

Two former doyens of the game – former All-Ceylon Captain Michael Tissera and former Sri Lanka skipper Anura Tennakoon – were feted at the awards ceremony with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

CTC member Sidath Wettimuny, addressing the audience, implored present-day youth cricketers to take a cue from the Tissera-Tennakoon duo, whom he termed as two of the very finest produced by this nation in its pre-Test era, and to mould their careers accordingly.

The former opener revealed how he had taken great pains to imitate not only the batting style of Tissera, but also his manner of walking towards the batting crease. He described the former Thomian as being both elegant and graceful in his batting, while terming him as a very underrated leg-break bowler.

Wettimuny was similarly profuse in his praise for Tennakoon, saying that the latter had been his first national Captain, and urged young cricketers who were striving to carve out a career in the game to take a leaf from the former Captain’s cricketing book. 

Opening batter Pathum Nissanka was crowned Men’s Cricketer of the Year, while women’s skipper Chamari Athapaththu was named Women’s Cricketer of the Year, adding to an impressive list of individual honours. 

Two media personalities, journalist Reemus Fernando (print) and broadcaster Kelum Srimal (electronic), were also conferred with the same Lifetime Achievement recognition.