- Insists ICC positive at quarterly meeting
- Asserts Men’s cricket can’t be revived by changing heads
Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage says that currently no time frame has been given to the Transformation Committee controlling Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for the amendment of its Constitution, while paving the way for new elections.
“At the moment, I am having a constant dialogue with the Transformation Committee officials,” he told reporters, during a media briefing held at the Sports Ministry Auditorium in Colombo on Tuesday (2). It was held to apprise the press of the 50th National Sports Festival to be held later this year.
“As of now there is no set time limit for them (Transformation Committee). Also there is a certain programme that is being formulated by the Transformation Committee, and based on that only will we be able to decide on the time period.”
Gamage explained that the depths to which cricket in this country has fallen is so grave that it is impossible to be redeemed by merely changing of Ex-Cos at Sri Lanka Cricket.
“Men’s cricket in Sri Lanka is currently down in the dumps, and the remedy for it is not merely to change heads at SLC,” the Minister insisted.
“It needs surgery in my view and the Transformation Committee has been assigned that very task to administer the requisite medicine to that ailing patient of cricket, which once brought fame and glory to this country.”
The Minister stressed that the challenge facing the Eran Wickramaratne-helmed Committee is such that it will be unfair to expect them to address all shortcomings overnight.
But, he expressed optimism that the nine-member panel installed in late April will deliver on the tasks entrusted to them by the Government, before making way for the election of office bearers to the sport’s local governing body.
Asked as to why no member from the Transformation Committee had been invited to the ICCs quarterly meeting held in Ahmedabad over the past weekend, the Minister said the question has to be posed to the global body and not him.
He then rejected claims that the move had suggested that the Dubai-based institution was yet discontent with the Government’s decision to oust the previous elected SLC Ex-Co headed by Shammi Silva.
“To my knowledge the ICC has not stated anywhere either officially or unofficially, that they do not recognise the Transformation Committee,” bespectacled Gamage emphasised.
“In my view these are all figments of certain people’s imaginations. Whether we are invited or not is entirely up to the ICC, and that is out of our control. As far as I know, even at the quarterly meeting in Ahmedabad, the global body has spoken positively of the setting up of this Transformation Committee.”
The ICC had previously taken a grim view of State-intervention at the Maitland Place body in 2023, as well as in 2015, slapping temporary suspensions on each of those times, but have been muted in its response to the latest interference by the NPP Government.
The world body however, sent two officials on a visit to Colombo early last month, but no sanctions attributed to Government interference have ensued, even after the latest ICC powwow.
The ICC has only stated tersely “In Sri Lanka, ICC Deputy Chair Imran Khwaja and Devajit Saikia (BCCI) have visited and met with relevant stakeholders to assess ongoing developments.”
The Transformation Committee has reportedly announced that its aim is to overhaul the archaic Constitution of the SLC, with a view to align the institution with the aspirations of the cricket-obsessed public.