Upali outlines plan to develop Sri Lanka cricket

Yasaratne Gamage

Former SLC Interim Committee chairman and contender for the SLC presidency Upali Dharmadasa addressing a gathering of cricket club officials and media at Hotel Galadari on Sunday said that he has the capability and experience to protect Sri Lanka’s cricket heritage and to make Sri Lanka to be the best contributor to world cricket by 2015.

He also expressed his confidence to work as a team with experienced campaigners to bring financial stability to SLC. In reply to a question posed by a pressman he said that he has short-term and long-term plans to bring back Sri Lanka Cricket to a high standard.

Dharmadasa also said that he is keen on arranging more foreign teams tour to Sri Lanka which would enhance the coffers of the SLC. “ Cutting down on expenditure is one of the ways we can reduce cost, like we did for the expenditure for security in the recently concluded Australian tour. We could reduce the cost more than we expected with the support of everyone who sweated and toiled hard”. He also stated that during his tenure as chairman of the earlier interim committee they were able to make a profit of Rs 46 million from the Australian tour of Sri Lanka in August- September this year.

Developing school cricket is one of his priorities . To have a close and friendly relationship with sponsors in order to conduct more tournaments for young cricketers who are spread islandwide is one of his strategies. Dharmadasa was confident of improving the standard of the budding cricketers in the hope that they would represent the country one day with distinction.

He also noted that after the war there has been a greater opportunity for the youth in North and East to engage in sports and highlighted the importance of helping them to come to the limelight which would help to bring about harmony and unity among the two main communities.

In this regard he will prepare a long-term development plan for districts, school cricket in outstations and suburbs of Colombo to bring youngsters to the National cricket arena with special emphasis on the Norther and Eastern provinces.

To give SLC financial stability he suggested of maximizing revenue from sale of television and other rights of SLC through a transparent process and to develop Sri Lanka Cricket into a marketable brand that can create new revenue streams. He also plans to use 2012 twenty20 world cup as a launching pad for sports tourism in Sri Lanka.

He also hopes to develop a clear strategy for team selection and succession planning to ensure continuity as well as sustained performance of Sri Lanka cricket and to upgrade the standards of umpires and coaches and match referees by harnessing the local talent available and investing in classy Human Resources Development.

In conclusion he stated that these strategies will ensure that Sri Lanka cricket will be transformed into an ethical and professional body with the highest standards, plus ensuring its continuity of corporate governance and ensure its financial stability and excellence in the game.