Here below is the speech made by M.udayakumar MP SJB Nuwaraeliya district in parliament today on the Sri Lankan Cricket.
Debate about sports in parliament should be, an occasion for us to cherish victory, but only in our country, we stand here in parliament to speak about rescuing our most popular sport, cricket
In saying the above, it is our responsibility to take cricket to next level
The lasting memory of lifting the world cup did put our country known to the world after Ceylon Tea.
With so much of love and affection to this sport in our country, Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has bought disrepute to the sport in recent times.
The very basic problem in our country is that the power & fame hungry people within the corridor have taken this sport to the state where it is now.
Cricket Board has become a laughing mater, when people who knew nothing about the sport were appointed to its board and administrator to run the sport in the country.
The past and present professional cricketers are walking away , when their aspirations are not heard to restore the sport again to its glory.
The political influence has paved way for corruption, mismanagement and favoritism has led people to make decisions in the dark, effecting the board and not being able to conduct proper growth-oriented policies for the future.
Hon…..
Sri Lanka gained Test status in 1981 1where the t inaugural test match in 1982 was played at home against England,
still the names of the players remain fresh in our minds even after 41 years……….……
Then the greatest moment in Sri Lanka Cricket was when we won the world cup in 1996 exactly 27 years ago,
the memory of recalling the names of all those players in the team also remain fresh in our minds …. ………………. but today to name a team of eleven is seen as trouble – due to Cricket Boards daily chaos.
we do no have stable players like in the past to represent the country
Sri Lanka’s current ranking shows that we are at the bottom of the cricketing world in all forms of the game.
In the ICC Rankings for teams, Sri Lanka ranks 7th in Tests, 9th in ODIs and 8th in the T20I format.
For a country that has been at the top or near the top in all three formats – Tests, ODIs, T20Is – and the team that has won ICC World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20t World Cup, – this is simply not acceptable.
The cumulative result of Tests, ODIs, and T20Is during a five-year evaluation period is 44 wins and 95 losses.. Winning percentage of 31.65%
year-on year winning percentage
2014 – 62% : 2023 – 13%
we even failed to qualify automatically to World Cup 2023 and had to play the qualifiers
In fact, we had 11 Foreign coaches between 2012 to 2022in various positions
In the past few years, the Sri Lanka national cricket team has been facing a void of experienced players in the squad
The talent and school cricket structure that we have in our country doesn’t prevail in any other cricket playing nation – our School Cricket system is the best in the word, but still we are at crossroads finding ways to administer the sport with professionals.
I say this bcoz
It’s been 23 years since our U 19 team reached the u19 WC finals
No A – Team tours between 2016 to 2018
Reason for SLC debacle :
Inconsistent selection, Favoritism, political interference
Misuse of administrative funds, corruption, Mismanagement
Wastage of money on legal battles 59M (30M against the minister)
Proposals
Cricket university to be established in Provinces
Cricket scholarship program
Sports psychologist
Cricket is a gentlemen”s game
Next few months are crucial for Sri Lanka Cricket Asia Cup commencing next week followed by the ICC world cup starting in October ……..wishes to the SLC team all success
