Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket submits report to President

The Ministerial Sub-Committee for Cricket has handed over its report to President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Presidential Secretariat, a short while ago.

The report was handed over to President Wickremesinghe by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ali Sabri, PC, who chairs the committee.

Notably, this report was swiftly completed within a brief span of one and a half months following the establishment of the Cabinet Sub-Committee, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.

On 06 November 2023, President Wickremesinghe appointed a four-member committee, chaired by Minister Ali Sabry, and comprising of Ministers Tiran Alles, Manusha Nanayakkara and Kanchana Wijesekara, to look into matters concerning SLC, after then Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe had decided to appoint a seven-member  Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), chaired by World Cup-winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga. 

President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, appointed the Additional Secretary to the President, Mrs. Loshini Peiris, as the Secretary/Convener of the committee. 

The Interim Committee, comprising of retired Supreme Court judges S.I. Imam and Rohini Marasinghe, retired High Court judge Irangani Perera, Upali Dharmasena, Attorney-at-Law Rakitha Rajapakshe and Hisham Jamaldeen, had been appointed to carry out the board’s operations until further notice or until an election is held, under the authority granted to him by the Sports Law No. 25 of 1973.

However, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had not been notified about the sports minister’s decision to appoint the said interim committee, its composition or the decision to suspend the previous board. Internal sources said the Head of State had only come to know of the interim panel’s appointment through a media report.

Thus, the ministerial sub-committee was appointed to look into the sports minister’s move, with the consent of the Sports Minister and the President.

The committee promptly initiated an investigation into the current situation of Sri Lankan cricket by engaging with relevant parties.

Accordingly:

1. The composition and structure of the Sri Lanka Cricket and proposals for reforms.

2. The framework for administering, coaching and overall well-being of cricket players at different levels including the national teams for men and women, the under 19 and under 17 age groups.

3. Appropriate good governance and best practices that can be adopted to guarantee transparency, professionalism and accountability in the system benchmarking with well-functioning comparative systems in test-playing countries.

4. Revamping the feeding structure of Sri Lanka Cricket namely schools, district, provincial and club level cricket embracing meritocracy, equality and equity.

5. The committee has resolved to concentrate on the four identified areas.

To comprehensively analyse the root causes of the present crisis, a thorough examination will involve key stakeholders.

These include the current Sports Minister, Harin Fernando, former Sports Ministers, State Ministers for Sports, Secretary of the Ministry of Sports, Sri Lanka Cricket, coaches of the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team (Women’s/Men’s), umpires, cricket selecting committee, coaches of the under-19 cricket team, technical advisory committee, members of the current cricket team led by Wanindu Hasaranga, Sri Lanka umpires Association, Sri Lanka Bar Association, Audit and Accounting institutes, and the committee led by retired Supreme Court judge K.T. Chitrasiri, which has incorporated recommendations following an investigation of the opinions of the Auditor General, among others.

Attorneys-at-law Shamir Zavahir and Samhan Munzir have made invaluable contributions to the preparation of the report and research. Additionally, the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Presidential Secretariat played a crucial role in providing special support for this endeavour.

Upon accepting the report, President Ranil Wickremesinghe conveyed his commitment to implementing the recommendations outlined in the report. He also expressed his intention to present both this report and the draft of the new Sports Act to Parliament in the near future.

The President extended his appreciation to the Cabinet Sub-Committee for the prompt presentation of the report.

Assistant Secretary to the President, Samith Talakiriya, was also in attendance at this significant event.