Shammi Silva, caught and bowled by Anura

Cricket
By Editor_1
Shammi Silva, seemingly President of Sri Lanka Cricket for life, and his executive committee resigned after being urged by Sri Lanka’s government to step down, amid mounting public anger over allegations of corruption and mismanagement within the country’s richest sporting body -ESPNcricinfo

By Kassapa

The unthinkable has happened. Shammi Silva, seemingly President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for life, has been dismissed. What’s more, he wasn’t ousted in a bitter legal battle or summarily sacked, he resigned.

An interim ‘Cricket Transformation Committee’ (CTC) has been appointed, headed by former United National Party (UNP) State Minister and Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne and comprising three cricketing legends, Sidath Wettimuny, Roshan Mahanama and Kumar Sangakkara as well as well-known corporate and legal entities, all with impeccable credentials.

How did the National Peoples’ Power (NPP) and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who seem to be unable to get an online financial transaction right, manage this herculean feat, a task that even Ranil Wickremesinghe tried to do, but couldn’t accomplish?

Shammi Silva has a long and chequered history with SLC. An above average but not spectacular cricketer from Nalanda College, Colombo, he was a few years senior to Thilanga Sumathipala at the same school. At SLC, Silva was at first Sumathipala’s proxy. Sumathipala himself was difficult to get rid of. He had mastered the art of vote buying, expanding SLC to include regional clubs with voting rights, then doling out cash to them in return for their vote on election day.

Sumathipala also cultivated both major political parties, the UNP and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) assiduously. When he was not in one, he was in the other. When Chandrika Kumaratunga, as President, asked her uncle Clifford Ratwatte to contest Sumathipala for the SLC Presidency, the election was like a mini war with goons entering the Maitland Place headquarters of SLC. Sumathipala won by a massive majority. Ratwatte went to court, but Sumathipala still prevailed.

In the shadow of Sumathipala, Silva would have watched and learnt. Lately, he had become his own man. He ran SLC like it was his fiefdom. In fact, he said so publicly. Questioned about alleged corruption and financial irregularities running into millions of rupees, Silva said SLC generated its own money, so it was not answerable to anyone.

The difference between Sumathipala and Silva was that when the former was at the helm, five times intermittently between 1998 and 2018 with some of his proxies such as Mohan de Silva also governing in between, the performance of our cricket team was satisfactory until about 2014 when it won the T20 World Cup. So, public pressure to remove him wasn’t great, at least until his later years.

Under Silva however, the reverse was true. The national cricket team’s performances nose-dived and players were known for notorious misdemeanours off the field rather than for their performances on it. Still, Silva, who took over in 2018, reigned supreme despite all efforts to dislodge him.

The most strenuous of these was made by then Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe who was instrumental in submitting a resolution to Parliament, moved by SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, to remove Silva. In a rare show of unanimity, Parliament endorsed it. Ranasinghe also appointed an Interim Committee to govern SLC, headed by Arjuna Ranatunga.

However, then President Ranil Wickremesinghe was livid, claiming Ranasinghe acted without informing Cabinet. The latter spoke out in Parliament saying Wickremesinghe would have to choose between Silva or him. Wickremesinghe summoned Ranasinghe to a Cabinet meeting, gave him a dressing down, asked him to leave and sacked him. It was clear whose side he had chosen.

Silva meanwhile ran to the International Cricket Council (ICC) claiming there was political interference. His friend at the ICC, its Chairman Jay Shah obliged, suspending Sri Lanka. Silva was invited back to the SLC and the status quo was restored.

These events help to put into context the enormity of what happened last week. There has been no murmur of dissent from the ICC yet. Obviously, it had been sounded out discreetly using diplomatic channels and their agreement obtained. This is also why Silva resigned without a whimper or even a public statement.

Replacing Silva with Wickramaratne and a team that includes three legendary cricketers has been widely welcomed. Wickramaratne has exactly the right credentials. He is a former Royal College opening batsman who went on to be a banker, setting up the National Development Bank (NDB). Some have questioned his religious affiliations but Wickramaratne has never brought religion into his public duties as a state minister or parliamentarian.

By having someone from the SJB to head SLC, Dissanayake has chosen wisely. On the one hand, it sends a message that he is not averse to giving his political opponents their due place if they have the right credentials. On the other hand, the main opposition party will find it extremely difficult to oppose or criticize the appointment of their former colleague. It is a win-win situation for Dissanayake.       

Of course, more needs to be done. Wickramaratne and his team will not be judged on their past laurels but on their efforts to transform SLC. As its name implies, the CTC is not here to stay. Its task is to reform the administrative structure of SLC, so that it cannot be manipulated in the future by vote-grabbing by someone like Sumathipala or Silva. Ideally, they would then facilitate a free and fair election and let worthy successors take over. Cricket fans also hope that administrative changes at SLC will translate into improved performances on the field and that indiscipline among players, so widespread now, will be a thing of the past.           

The other issue that will be watched with interest is whether Silva will be held accountable for his alleged acts of commission and omission. The question being asked in cricketing circles is whether his silent departure, so uncharacteristic of him, is part of a ‘deal’ where he is allowed to leave without the fear of prosecution? Time will tell whether the CTC- or the government- will have the motivation to pursue Silva’s shenanigans when he was President.

Being under a cloud for the US$ 2.5 million Treasury scam, the changes at SLC could not have come at a better time for the government. Dissanayake’s doosra to dismiss Silva has been unplayable. But the follow-on is equally important.   

-This article was originally featured on counterpoint.lk

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