Sri Lankan board to appeal government takeover

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced that it will appeal against the government decision last week to take over control of the game's management. After several days of speculation, the government appointed a six-man interim committee after claims of financial mismanagement.

Despite the government's decision, announced by the sports minister Jeevan Kumaratunga on Thursday afternoon, the cricket board proceeded as scheduled with its AGM on Sunday, and elected Thilanga Sumathipala unopposed as the president for a fifth term.

Other officials appointed included Ravin Wickramaratne as secretary, Nuski Mohammad as treasurer, Aravinda de Silva and Trevor Rajaratnam as the two vice-presidents, Bandula Dissanayake as assistant secretary, Lucian Merinnage as assistant treasurer, and Mohan de Silva as immediate past president.

After the AGM, Aravinda de Silva criticised the government's decision to strip the board's elected executive committee of their powers, arguing that it will create uncertainty and hamper the development of the game in Sri Lanka.

"This unfortunate incident will have a bad impact on our cricket internationally and on the morale of our team," said de Silva. "This is the only country where the sports minister has suspended the activities of the cricket board on four occasions in the past five years. There has been so much uncertainty created as a result of this."

Meanwhile, Nuski Mohammad justified the $3.25million loss recorded in the accounts for the past year, claiming that occasional deficits were part and parcel of an international cricket association because of the variations in the revenue-generating capacity of different touring countries.

"It is evident that during the years 2000 and 2002 we had deficits of $800,000 and $2.9million before tax, whereas in 2001 and 2003 Sri Lanka Cricket had a surplus of $4.4million and $2million," he revealed. "This is normal because the administration and cricket expenses are dependent on the level of activity for each year in operation.

"Sri Lanka Cricket is largely dependent on a multitude of factors, such as rotation and the number of international tours during a particular year, the TV income derived from such tours which could vary from country to country, the four-year World Cup cycle which brings in a large amount of revenue, and the income derived from other tournaments held periodically such as the Asia Cup."

He concluded: "Unlike other countries, we are servicing all the centres, districts and provinces and maintaining the infrastructure of stadiums where international matches are played. To get results in cricket you've got to spend."

He added that junior, under-23 and A-team tours cost a substantial amount of money without any financial returns. "One could justify the expenditure in terms of our current standing in international cricket, where we occupy second position in the one-day table and fourth position in Tests. Even Australia, which occupies top berth in both forms of the game, has reported losses to the tune of A$14 million [nearly Rs. one billion]."

However, despite Sri Lanka Cricket's AGM, the government's new committee, headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa, will takeover control of the board on Monday, when they are expected to reveal their management mandate, which could include fundamental constitutional change of the board.

Sri Lanka Cricket office-bearers: Roshan Abeysinghe (Chairman, Tournament Committee), Romesh Kaluwitharana(Chairman, Umpires Committee), Cricket Associations: Anura Weerasinghe, Tyronne de Silva; District Cricket Associations: M Manoharan, Lorence Amarasena, Controlling Clubs: Michael de Zoysa, Pradeep Peiris, Mizra Fajudeen; Affiliated Clubs: Gihan Weerasinghe, Manju Fernando.