Are cracks appearing in Sumathipala administration? (1 December 1998)

1 December 1998

Are cracks appearing in Sumathipala administration?

By Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The abandonment of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka's (BCCSL) Extra-Ordinary General Meeting on Sunday leads one to question whether there are any cracks appearing in the Thilanga Sumathipala administration.

Sunday's unfortunate abandonment was due to the resolution not being properly worded, which would have otherwise had legal implications, if passed.

The BCCSL are seeking amendments to certain sections of its constitution in order to fall in line with other International Cricket Council (ICC) member countries.

At Sunday's meeting, the amendments itself were presented, but not in the form of a resolution as required by Section 18 (b) of the BCCSL constitution, which inter alia states: "All resolutions dealing with the rights and privileges of membership subject to Rule 30 (c) or alteration, addition or any amendment to the constitution shall be by special resolution".

A reasonable section of the members present, strongly objected to the amendments being discussed or passed at the EGM summoned for this purpose in view of Section 18 (b) being violated.

This is the second occasion at which an EGM of the BCCSL to amend its constitution had to be abandoned, due to inadequacies on the notice issued to members. The first occasion was in August this year.

The secretary of the BCCSL has to take full responsibility of these lapses and for the fiasco created in having two EGM's abandoned at tremendous cost to the BCCSL.

We understand that the BCCSL engages legal consultants to fine comb matters, such as the amendments to the constitution etc. With all these expertise it is a sad reflection that the secretary has failed in his duties to ensure that proper notice was issued for the scheduled meetings.

Questions are also being asked by interested members as to why Muthiah Muralitharan, with a serious injured arm was sent to Sharjah for the Coca Cola trophy tournament. Muralitharan has still not recovered from the injury and looks doubtful even for Australia. He has been asked to undergo a fitness test.

A similar incident happened a few months before, when Chaminda Vaas was sent to England on the guise of seeking treatment from the physio. These incidents tend one to ask the question whether there is a dearth of sports medicine experts in the country for the injured players to be treated for an interim period.

It is also a sign of weak administration by the BCCSL to stop injured players from going on tours. Not only have they got to pay the players' tour fees, but also bear other costs.

The way things are moving right now, it does not augur well for the Sumathipala administration. Expectations from the Sri Lankan and international cricketing public must be maintained.

Sri Lanka are going to England for the World Cup next year as the defending champions and everything has to be put in the proper perspective to achieve the desired results.

One sad aspect is that while the other eight Test playing countries will be involved in international series, leading up the World Cup, Sri Lanka will not have any serious cricket till the World Cup in May, after their tour of Australia ends in mid-February.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)