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by Dinesh Weerawansa

The battle for the top seat of country's richest sports governing body will turn out to be a keen tussle with greater public interest as the nominations will be accepted from today.

Director General of Sports, Milton Amarasinghe said nominations for the forthcoming elections of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, will be accepted at his office today, tomorrow, Monday (12) and Tuesday (13) during working hours. The Director General of Sports will be acting as the competent authority in conducting the BCCSL elections and annual general meeting (AGM), until the Sports Ministry hands over the administration to the new office-bearers elect.

The BCCSL has been run by successive interim committees under Vijay Malalasekera and Hemaka Amarasuriya for the last two successive years and there has been a growing demand from the member clubs and associations to have democratically appointed ex-co to run the board affairs. Amarasinghe said that accepting the nominations will close at 12.00 noon on May 13 (Tuesday). The nominations will be accepted at the office of the Director General of Sports, Department of Sports Development, Torrington Square, Colombo 7.

Amarasinghe said the full list of nominations submitted will have to be sent to the member and affiliated clubs and associations of the BCCSL seven days before the day of the AGM/ elections. Accordingly, the BCCSL membership should be informed about the candidates before May 30 but the Director General of Sports plans to get into quick action and release the list to the members after the Vesak holidays.

Director General, Amarasinghe said any objections against the nominations and candidates could be presented to him until the AGM and elections, which will be held at the Sports Ministry auditorium, Colombo 7 on June 6. The clash for the top seat is likely to be turn out to be a direct battle between two-time BCCSL President Thilanga Sumathipala and former Sri Lanka Test captain, Arjuna Ranatunga.

Even before the nominations were called, the two were expected to contest the next BCCSL elections and both parties will have several former officials and cricketers in their camps.

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Telecom, Sumathipala will be contesting for BCCSL Presidency for a record third time, having won both the previous contests convincingly. He is said to have a big backing from the outstation clubs, which were benefited largely due to his provincial cricket development programme as President.

He has maintained a good rapport with the international cricketing community as former Chairman of the Asian Cricket Council.

Some of the clubs have even passed resolutions to vote for Sumathipala, even before the BCCSL elections were declared by the Sports Minister Johnston Fernando. Veteran Test batsman turned politician Ranatunga has a high regard among the public as Sri Lanka's world cup winning 1996 team's captain.

Undoubtedly the most successful Sri Lanka captain ever.

Ranatunga took to politics after his two-decade long international career and convincingly won a parliamentary elections seat from Colombo District under the PA ticket.

But this will be the first time that Ranatunga will be contesting BCCSL elections. There are 87 clubs and associations under the BCCSL membership, which have a total of 147 votes to determine the future of Sri Lanka cricket.

All quarters have acclaimed Minister Fernando's decision to call for fresh BCCSL elections and it be a busy time for country's cricket officials before Sri Lanka gets a new cricket administration before the national team's departure to the West Indies on a Test tour.

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