The Sri Lankan Cricket team, which suffered a spate of humiliating losses in the recent past, is expected to undergo a major overhaul before the South African tournament starting next week.
Harin
Sri Lanka’s Head Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, Captain Dinesh Chandimal and several other players are likely to be sacked before the South African tour, sources close to Sports Minister Harin Fernando said.
Hathurusinghe was hired for an annual salary of Rs 90 million in January 2018 on a three-year contract at the start of 2018. Sports Minister Fernando has ordered Sri Lanka Cricket to seek the Attorney General’s Advice on terminating Hathurusinghe’s contract prematurely in view of Sri Lanka’s poor performance in international cricket.
Several senior players, including Chandimal, will be given a “break” from international cricket allowing them to regain form and reinvent their places in the national team. Several players from Sri Lankan ‘A’ team, who performed well during the recent series against Ireland ‘A’, will be fast-tracked into the team.
Dimuth Karunaratne, the only Sri Lankan player to secure a slot in the ICC world Test team for 2018, is likely to be made the captain of the Test team.
“The national team is grappling with several issues including internal rifts, divisions and increasing politicization. Players have formed several cliques in the team and they often don’t see eye to eye with others,” informed cricket sources told Colombo Telegraph.
Several Sri Lankan players have also come under scrutiny from the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Anti-Corruption Unit over match-fixing allegations. The Unit has set up a permanent office in Colombo and is currently working on multiple investigations involving several national players.
Sports Minister Harin Fernando flew to Australia last week to resolve the issues within the team. In addition to meeting senior players on a one-on-one basis, he also hosted a dinner for the entire and team and support staff on Sunday night, mainly to “break the ice”.
“We have already given up the 2019 ICC World Cup. It is unrealistic to believe that we will be able to enter the knockout stages of the tournament. Under the current circumstances, there is no point in waiting for the end of the ICC World Cup to usher in sweeping changes. Sri Lanka cricket is similar to a patient struggling with terminal cancer. Treatments must be given as soon as possible — the sooner the better,” our spokesman said.
Siri / February 5, 2019
Yes, Minister, whip them hard, with all the big perks, the players and officials are not playing cricket but playing other games. If we are to gain our former glory, it needs a total and thorough cleaning of the players and officials from top to bottom, both in the team and SLC.
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Sam Fernando / February 5, 2019
But please watch out, this can bring you to all ends. Your talents are clear to SILLYSENA. He would do anything to crush UNPs young men, whenever he has go tthe chances to do so. Just therefore you may have been appointed to the position. That is what I feel… since, virutally everyone is clear, lanken sports related areas are gone that abusive for such a long time. Not having taken proper decisions in right times, by right people have led its destruction.
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Sirisena s appointments are mostly abusive. I think This young POlitician could do lot more if he had been appointed to other fields. Cricket and lanken sports are over corrupted areas filled with high profile criminals. In EUrope, going to do sports mean, not heard as a bad thing, but in lanken soil, going back to my days, those went to play crickets were seen as notorious cases. tHEY were not seen better to beach boys that would give services to foreigners in Hikkaduwa areas. THey stayed after school and abused the young one in the same hostels. All these are the background of emerge of those so called cricketers. This image should be taken away if sports to be spread in this country and build up a healthy society.
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JD / February 5, 2019
firstly, why Politicians need to help or involve in Cricket. I hear, that Thilanga Sumathipala earned SIX BILLIONS from Cricket even though during his time Cricketers lost so many games. There are so many retired Crickerters who can do that. IS this because, sirikotha needs some money for the election.
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C.P. Bacon / February 5, 2019
Like the bigger picture in India the Lankan Cricket Board was flush with cash when the
Rajapakses came to power – despite the venal activities of Thilanga. And then, the
Rajapakses not only emptied the treasury of the Cricket board thus destroying the game
that has by then reached an adult stage then placing us along with the other leading countries. Honourable and wealthy men like Ana Punchihewa, Chandra Schaffter should be thanked for this. Then the bucket-shop mudalalis (Arjuna’s words) captured the top jobs in the Board with the Rajapakses to follow thereafter.
If the country is to learn as to what happened to our money and the game a Forensic Audit should be held by men/Audit firms of impeccable reputation- with the media kept fully informed. This is the country’s right. Then we will know who stole how much, when and why.
In the light of what is happening to the game today, it won’t be long if Sri Lanka is not demoted to the next lower level. This will shame the entire country.
Chris P. Bacon
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Dee / February 5, 2019
Well said. A forensic Audit needs to be done just to clear the innocent. None of us can clearly say who are the culprits if there are any. This will clear it all.
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K.Withana / February 5, 2019
It seems you are in some hatred with Rajapakshas. But If you take a look very closely in that era SL has done lot more better in World Cricket.
Actually it’s the UNP govt. who emptied the treasury. Do not spread the wrong attitude among the public alongside with your personal agendas.
Yes, this Cricket Board officials & players must be removed & they need a brain wash since their attitude is below par. Damn, they should play for their COUNTRY !!!
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Justin Case / February 5, 2019
Jedda, let’s leave Sri Kotha aside for the moment, but why haven’t the allegations against Sumathipala been investigated? I think Sports Minister Harin F is very much on the right track here. A complete overhaul must be made to address the ridiculous situation in SLC today, where many if not most players no longer seem to consider playing for their country a honour, and officials seem to be ‘there’ for what they can take out of it to fatten their wallets and their big fat arses.
I suppose this is only another symptom of how corruption, ineptitude and lack of commitment has seeped in to all segments of our once proud society, all this being led by our totally dishonourable and malignantly crooked politicians.
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JD / February 5, 2019
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Upali / February 5, 2019
When two teams play only one team wins. there are ups and downs in all teams. West Indies went through such a period and are now coming up.Give them time.
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C.P. Bacon / February 5, 2019
The main problem for the decline of the mighty Windies was their own Cricket Board, whose venal record was similar to our recent one. They seem to have take appropriate steps to arrest this truancy in recent years. Their cricket appears to have survived their
crooked officials.
Ideally, we should adopt the system of recognising only Cricket Clubs whose standards are consistently up to national level to qualify for Voting rights in the BCCSL AGM. What happened in our case is scheming “Mudalalis” increased the number of Clubs, with lower levels of Cricketing standards, calculated to win votes at the AGM. We have now nearly a hundred clubs along this category. This anomaly needs to be addressed. By all means if Clubs all over the island produce national level players consistently, certainly make them members. Not otherwise. Don’t allow personal greed destroy a beautiful game where we have raw talent to make into the global grade.
My point is save our Cricket potential from the clutches of scheming 3rd class politicians, Turf Accountants and similar unsavoury dregs. I am confident we have the talent to produce the world class standards that we produced in the mid-1990s and before.
Chris P. Bacon
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Spring Koha / February 6, 2019
When the honey pot was identified, the bees stirred.
Damn it! Clubs registered without even a proper constitution or any decent players. They took a big piece of the Board cake in exchange for their vote. What a right old farce. Votes were up for auction every time an election came by. Meanwhile, for the cricket mudalali’s their families and cronies it was kaala, beela, jolli-karapalla…in the the complimentary boxes at the big internationals. It’s all gone sour now. The shame of it is that players are now bringing their women into the mix. Just not cricket!
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Gajo / February 5, 2019
Poor Chandimal. But Hathuru has to be removed for sure.
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Thappu / February 5, 2019
Leave Cricket to cricketers. Leading countries let past players Administer cricket. Our past now looks like a flash in the pan. Harin or not, politicians must get out of the way. If they disappear from the scene there is a good possibility that Mahela and Kumar will offer their services.
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rohanabey / February 5, 2019
Mr. Minister, you are young and could do a good job of work. Your track record is that. Suggest forming a Cricketing Think Tank to help and advice you. Former cricketers like Sidhath, Roshan, Kumar, Mahela should be included. Use technology to have a dialogue with them and meet them periodically review the progress. Many a cricket lovers are with you.
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Wick / February 5, 2019
Why should cricket be administered by only past players. I don’t believe that you had to have played cricket af first class level to be an administrator. Riyenzie Wijetilaka showed how someone with no cricket background can make a turnaround after the 1999worldcup. What you need is to be an able administrator with a proven track record in another field with integrity.
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Lakshman maddumahewa / February 5, 2019
In countries most of trainers are in the team well respected senior players like Justin langur in Australia.but our men who didn’t well in every tournament in well were given those posts. All old ones be replaced and restructure.the captain should immediate replaced and poor health one be replaced.
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Good Sense / February 5, 2019
It is meaningful for a minister to expect results and react to poor performance. In doing so he should not ultimately be proven as a bull in a China shop. What happens in the political setup is that lackeys would demonize someone who has no access to the minister and further say that nothing can be done about it. Eg. “The fellow is on a fixed term contract with no possibility of early removal”. Usually what happens is for the minister to bark an order to remove the demon and it is done hook or by crook saying “It is the order of the minister”. I must say that it is pretty decent of this minister to direct a consultation with the Attorney General. But he must get his facts right. Was there a formal inquiry to ascertain the poor performance? My perception is that a lot of money in corrupt and crooked hands is the root cause of this malaise.
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Nosey Parker / February 5, 2019
Minister hosting the team to dinner sounds very posh . Question is , who’s paying for all this ? Millions still live below the poverty line and tax payers are getting squeezed harder and harder .
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Piyal / February 5, 2019
Players should be placed on performance incentives .Suggest following method in paying their salary and match fees
Attending to regular practices 20%
On and off the field disciplines 10%
Achieving performance targets set 40%
Basic salary 30%
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DPJ / February 5, 2019
It is Mahinda Rajapaksa who destroyed cricket in Sri Lanka after he robbed Rs.6 billion from the SLC kitty. He used about 2 bn. to build the a cricket stadium in elephant infested Suriyawewa for the ill-conceived intention of naming it after him. He pocketed in the balance 4 bn. On 7th July 2011 Lankapuwath e-mailed that the Auditor General reported the the ten SLC Int. Com. without budgetary Action Plan during 2005- 2008 and Rs.4 bn different was detected. The AG was threatened and that was its end. Nishantha Ranatunga collaborated with MARA. What a robber. The bastard must be brought to the Galle Face and whipped in public for the crime committed against cricket.
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Real Revolutionist / February 5, 2019
Leave cricket for cricketers Mr. minister.
Even the cricketer turned politicians should be kept aside.
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Amila / February 5, 2019
Get rid of all the players who have played international matches ( chandimal, mendis, thisara, dickwelaa etc.. ). Bring in a totally new 11 players who are good at first class. Don’t pay high salaries. Make about usd 300 – 600 base salary for all. Then pay big bonuses for winning matches and series.
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Rtd. Lt. Reginald Shamal Perera / February 6, 2019
Why not pay the minimum wage?
LOL!
After 10 years, you will come here and complain that not too many youngsters are not playing Cricket nowadays.
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shankar / February 5, 2019
1.The sri lankan test teams best batsman is karunaratne.Unfortunately he did not do well because he has a weakness against the short pitched ball that does not rear up as much as he expects it to.The batting coach has to rectify this weakness before the SA tour otherwise why are we paying for a batting coach.
2.our second best batsman is mathews.It was unnecessary to make him bowl 4 overs in the tests.As a result now he is languishing in the injured list with his recurrent hamstring injury.hathurusinghe should take the blame for that and get sacked.His attitude to mathews is well known.For 90 million rupees a year even mahinda will want to come and coach as he played some ‘crikit’ in thurston.
3.Our third best batsmen are mendis and chandimal.Chandimal should be sent 3 down and not one down and mendis 2 down.
4.After that it is dickwella who is the 5th best bat.He has to be told to curb his impetuousity especially against the sweep.Bowlers tend to adjust the ball when they see a favourite stroke.
5.Thats it our batting, folks,except for thirimanne who impressed with a gutty display but could not go on to score a half century even though coming close to it.batting has dried up.Time to try out more new chaps as australia has done successfully.
6.Now for the bowling.Our best bowler is dilruwan.he does best when there is another good spinner to partner him.Pressure at both ends finally results in wickets either for the other spinner like herath or to him.Without that support he is useless.
7.Our second best bowler is lakmal.On certain surfaces and playing conditions he does well.
8.Our third best bowler is lahiru kumara.he was injured in the last match.
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kolla / February 5, 2019
Come on, this is only a game, doesn’t deserve all this fuss. We occasionally have a fluke win and then try to make out we are master cricketers ! Records don’t show this.
We can judge our athletic standards from other sports-Olympics, Asian games-No medals whatsoever !
Cricket has become a way for a few not so great athletes to pretend to be national heroes and then do various businesses like running restaurants and garment factories. While playing most are doing match fixing
The administrators are fraudsters, wanting a place in society and make money in corrupt ways
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Jay / February 5, 2019
This is a good move. Need to overhaul the entire system and administration
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Real Revolutionist / February 5, 2019
Jay
For that, there shouldn’t be a minister/ministry for sports.
It can be kept under health ministry or social services ministry & good coordination among related parties.
A minister & 2 or 3 deputies reduced & money saved.
We have more than enough MPs. Limit them to just 100. A cabinet of 15 possible. How much saved.
Cancel PCs how much will be saved.
Tamils, don’t be fools, tell the govt. that you don’t want PCs & demand that money to your pocket.
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Jayantha / February 5, 2019
If the minister wants to make changes to the cricket constitution, he should abolish the current process and procedure to elect members to the executive committee of SLC. The current process dominates the clubs who are affiliated to SLC. The minister should introduce a proportional system to elect office bearers to the executive committee of SLC. The Minister should liaise with ex cricketers who represent the country to set up an association. Let the ex players association and clubs appoint a committee of 21. E.g. Ex players Association nominate 60% of the slots and remaining numbers are allocated for clubs who are affiliated to SLC. This committee elects the president, secretary and other key positions in the committee. This will end the domination of SLC by Clubs forever
Sent from my iPhone
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Jayantha / February 5, 2019
If the minister wants to make changes to the cricket constitution, he should abolish the current process and procedure to elect members to the executive committee of SLC. The current process dominates the clubs who are affiliated to SLC. The minister should introduce a proportional system to elect office bearers to the executive committee of SLC. The Minister should liaise with ex cricketers who represent the country to set up an association. Let the ex players association and clubs appoint a committee of 21. E.g. Ex players Association nominate 60% of the slots and remaining numbers are allocated for clubs who are affiliated to SLC. This committee elects the president, secretary and other key positions in the committee. This will end the domination of SLC by Clubs forever
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Shrikharan / February 5, 2019
There will be no sweeping changes and this is what we heard since Silisena back stabbed Rajapakse and cheated 6.2million voters. There will be only ‘sweeping under the carpet’.
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Logan D. / February 5, 2019
The Devas and Gods have all given up on Sri Lanka, Disunity, corruption in both Politics and Sports is firmly embeded in all spheres . Take a look and former British colonies like Singapore and Malaysias,
Their priorities and ethics, have raised them to First World standards.
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Rtd. Lt. Reginald Shamal Perera / February 5, 2019
When I was a prominent Cricket commentator at Lankanewspapers (LNP), I mentioned there that for most of the debacles of those days, the person behind those debacles was none other than Tanya Malinga.
Today it has been proven and come to light the nefarious activities of this girl.
But SL cricket has other issues apart from this. Our domestic cricket is pathetic. We have 12 Premier league teams. That’s a whopping 180 players playing the premier league. Imagine the standard. Why 12 teams? Because those clubs that do not perform cannot be demoted because of the vote at the SLC General elections will be lost to anyone who does that.
Look at the selection committee. Someone not so long ago said it was a bunch jokers headed by a clown. Look at the team they selected. It’s as if though they were in some anger while jotting down the names.
Besides, the coach gets fired, the Captain gets sacked. But one gets to stay till eternity despite all the failures. The number one bookie in world Cricket, Thilanga Sumathipala.
Now to the players. I do agree that players need a good spanking. But they are the least to be blamed for all this. If I was made the coach of the National team, there are certain subtle changes that I will bring forth. First of all, there will be no access to Social media. This by-god face books of whatever the heck it is will be banned.
There will be no soft drinks for the players. They will go to the nearest Tap, get down on their knees and drink water until they realize what an honour it is to play for Sri Lanka.
Finally, there will be no girl friends and wives while on tour. These girls come on tour and suck our boys dry and the next day, we know that they have stiff back and stiff what not. Look what happened to Suranga Lakmal.
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Devar Surya Sena / February 5, 2019
Don’t sack Chandimal for goodness sake, he is our best player and a superb captain
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thondamany / February 5, 2019
If we are to bring in a new coach, I suggest it should be that “No Nonsense” Indian, Anil Kumble.
Why is the pro;ifi9c scorer Avishka Fernando not selected for the South African tour?
When are we going to give him a break?
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Backlash / February 6, 2019
The best choice would be Dave Whatmore, who did a superb job here, in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The point is will he come to a corrupt, snake-pit like here. In the brief
years he was here as Coach, he was shocked at the level of back-stabbing, bad-mouthing,
stealing and many more vices. He was pained by the politicking of Arjuna and the
manner in which he used fake Buddhist priests to advance his future political cause.
It was Arjuna who introduced this unwelcome practise of Buddhist priests preaching pirith with the noola and all – in places where Cricketers assemble – such as the airport during the teams departure and arrival.
Backlash
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K.Pillai / February 5, 2019
The players made cricketing minnows into world class.
The unavoidable culture of corruption snaked in. The morale of the players commenced to drop.
Haran’s latest move will bring the morale down further.
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What next Harin?
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Rtd. Lt. Reginald Shamal Perera / February 6, 2019
And what’s the contribution to Sri Lankan cricket from the minorities other than that Tea plucker Muralitharan and the Murderer Sathasivam?
0.
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Tamil from the north / February 6, 2019
Ado Retarded Shemale bugger, what is your contribution to SL, other than cleaning army toilets?
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MedamulaneUmpire / February 5, 2019
I thought the team did much better under MR? T20 World championship. Two ODI finals in 2007 and 2011. Runner up. So it must not be their fault but the zero cricket new regime. What does Harin know about management?
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Tilak Samaranayaka / February 6, 2019
Establish a cricket clinic in order to assess their capabilities. It should be opened to any one with some experience in the game. Have frequent competitions to asses their sustained ability perform in the field. Appoint judges to evaluate their performance. Develop a data base to develop statistical models. They all must also learn English as they are playing an international game.
Tilak
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Jaufer / February 6, 2019
Yes do not sack Chandimal, he is the best
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Umbe. Watte / February 6, 2019
Paying hathuru 90m is ridiculous. There is no way this guy is worth this. Fire him immediately as his performance has been dismal. Gurusinghe too needs axing. Thilanga mudt have got huge illegal commissions from these appointments.
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