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Is interim the cure for all ills?

press box by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

So another interim committee has been appointed by the Sports Minister to see cricket administration through till the next World Cup tournament in South Africa in February-March 2003.

Apart from preparing for this important event, the other factor in appointing such a committee is to see that the mini-World Cup or as it is officially known, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions trophy is hosted successfully in Sri Lanka in September this year.

Hemaka Amarasuriya who replaced Vijay Malalasekera as chairman of the interim committee is quite aware of the two challenges that lie ahead of him and his committee in the next 12 months.

"It is a big challenge and the expectations are high. I am confident that with the team I have, we can give it our best shot," said Amarasuriya.

"Our priorities are to build an infrastructure for a successful World Cup and to host a successful mini World Cup. I have a good committee to work with," he said.

One other important issue Amarasuriya said he wanted to address after he meets the other members of the committee next week, was to improve Sri Lanka's cricket potential on the long term.

"The performances of our junior cricketers in the under 19 World Cup was a big disappointment. School cricket performances need to be tackled and a solution found for the falling standards of our junior cricket," he said. Hosting international cricket tournaments is nothing new to Amarasuriya. As chairman of a global company like Singer (Sri Lanka) Ltd, he has seen the successful completion of six cricket tournaments conducted by Singer within a period of six years from 1994 in Sri Lanka, Sharjah and Singapore.

He came into the scene at a time when the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) was struggling to put together a tournament of international standing. Having received the government backing, Singer went to the extent of talking to the different Cricket Boards to launch the first Singer World Series one-day tournament involving Australia, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. From that very inception Singer showed their hand at organizing tournaments successfully. So there is no doubt with Amarasuriya at the helm he will ensure that there won't be any hitch in making the mini World Cup, which will feature all ten Test playing nations plus Kenya and Holland, a successful one.

It is with this event and the World Cup in mind, the Sports Minister approached Amarasuriya for the top job. Although overtly reluctant at first, he finally accepted it, looking at it as "national duty to respond to such an invitation".

By appointing a fresh interim committee the Sports Minister nullified the prospects of the Cricket Board holding an election this year. The reason given was that by holding an election, he did not want to create an unhealthy atmosphere against two warring factions, not with an important tournament as the ICC Champions trophy just five months away.

What the Sports Minister has done is to include an equal number of people from both the Sumathipala and Dharmadasa camps in forming the new interim committee to keep both sides happy.

But the big question is: Is this the cure to all our cricketing (administration) ills? We have the highest regard for the men appointed to serve in the interim committee, but the very word interim means provisional or temporary. Interim committees have been functioning for over a year and, when the present one completes its term of appointment it will be well over two years.

One aspect that no one can deprive the interim committees of, is that on the two occasions they have functioned, they have always administered the game cleanly and ensured great success for the national team.

There is a big hue and cry raised by sections of the Cricket Board membership that their voice has been stifled by the existence of the interim body which has deprived them of their democratic rights of voting their choice of people to serve cricket. Such opinions have been raised mainly due to the people appointed to the interim committees being largely Colombo-based. There is no representation from the outstations and clubs and associations from these areas who have no one to turn to for their woes because they don't have any representations in the main committee.

Although the interim committees may fulfil many tasks internationally and ensure there is smooth running of the administration, there is a great danger that talent and development of cricket in the outstations is getting greatly neglected for the lack of a filtering process which can only be done through democratic means which is by holding elections.

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