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Comment by Dr. Elmo Rodrigopulle

A match that was no match. That is how best, the three cornered contest for the Presidency of the Board of Control for Cricket between Thilanga Sumathipala, Arjuna Ranatunga and Mohan de Silva ended.

Before the election there was much speculation as to who would be the ultimate winner. But at the end Sumathipala cantered home leaving the rest of the field far behind. He won polling 121 votes.

But what was unpalatable was that Ranatunga who has done so much for the player and the game was pushed to third place by Mohan de Silva who got 10 votes to Ranatunga's 7.

The three contestants have all played the game. Sumathipala for Nalanda and CCC. Ranatunga for Ananda, SSC and Sri Lanka. Ranatunga's achievement, when he led Sri Lanka to win the World Cup in 1996, is something we dare say will not be achieved this century.

Mohan de Silva, too played for Ananda and SSC.

The trio showed and proved the sportsmen in them with Sumathipala being humble in victory and Ranatunga and De Silva determined in defeat. That is the axiom that sports people are taught.

Sumathipala fully deserved his convincing victory. It is said that you cannot keep a good man down. And that is true of Sumathipala. Every time he ascended the presidency throne at the BCCSL, he was unceremoniously pulled down by his detractors, who were envious of his elevation to the exalted post.

Every cricketer and cricket fan will heave a sigh of relief now that the elections are over and they will have an elected body to take their troubles to.

Sumathipala the new President will, we, are sure know the tremendous responsibilities that he takes on.

Now that he is there he must deliver and continue to deliver. He need not be reminded that once on top no excuses however good are acceptable.

He must first see that he gets up a magnificent team that will and is capable of raising the game phoenix like from the ashes that it has now fallen into.

That Sumathipala is a man with a vision there is no doubt. His team must also be similarly focused if they are to score for the game, the player and the administration. Even before he could get a feel of his hot seat, he has a high hurdle to clear and that is solving the TV deal that is poised to cost the Board a huge amount of money.

He has the men who can help him clear the hurdle. But like in everything else accountability is sadly lacking. Accountability is something that must be introduced to the system.

We wish Sumathipala and his team a successful and high scoring stay at the wicket. As for Ranatunga we know it would have been galling to concede defeat. In his career as a player and captain, one thing that was anathema to him was defeat. Ranatunga has the resilience to fight back. Until such time, like in cricketing parlance, he must keep his wicket intact.

How nice it would have been had Ranatunga been a part of Sumathipala's team. Unkind things have been said in the heat of the moment. That is understandable. Now that there has been a winner, he must be encouraged and helped.

Lankans celebrate

The Sri Lankan cricketers celebrated the election of Thilanga Sumathipala as President of the BCCSL by burying the West Indians in the dust at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. By winning the first two games, the Lankans have taken the series.

After their poor showing in the Dambulla tournament, the Lankans arrived in the Caribbean as underdogs, while the Windies were riding a crest of a wave of success.

But the Lankans led brilliantly by Marvan Atapattu upset all calculations and if they continue in the same vein, should prove more than adequate opponents in the two Tests.

After the first victory, the Lankans pocketed a remarkable victory when they chased a huge windies total of 312 in the second and got there thanks to a belligerent 89 from allrounder Upul Chandana.

Chandana unfortunately has not been able to cement a permanent place.

He was surprisingly left out of the Dambulla tourney.

Given the opportunity, he belted the Windies attack to lead his team to one of the best victories in the one day game and silence his critics. He hit 4 sixes and 6 fours in 71 balls.

Had Sri Lanka not won these games it would have been a travesty of justice.

We say this because the two games have not seen the best of umpiring. Jayasuriya was unfortunate to be ruled caught behind in the first game when he was not. In the second game Lara was caught behind for a duck, but was not given out. Lara is known to walk when he snicks. But apparently it has dawned on the master batsman that cricket is no more a gentleman's game. Sad.

To score 312 and lose a game one must bowl and field badly.

That the Windies did to perfection.

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