Ranatunga to contest SLC elections

COLOMBO: C. Ranatunga, the younger brother of World Cup winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna, was SLC secretary from 2009 to 2015 © Getty

Former Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga has filed his nominations for the upcoming SLC elections. Ranatunga and his confidant Hirantha Perera were the only individuals to come forward to contest the strong incumbent executive committee headed by parliamentarian Thilanga Sumathipala.

Ranatunga, the younger brother of World Cup winning former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna, was SLC secretary from 2009 to 2015. A loyalist of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakasa, the younger Ranatunga fell out of favour after President Rajapaksa’s ouster in 2015.

“I was not to contest the cricket elections, but came forward after several requests by the stakeholders of the sport,” Ranatunga said. He contested the 2016 elections against Sumathipala, but was beaten handsomely. Sumathipala has never been defeated in a cricket election. He first became board president in 1998 at the age of 33.

Asked whether he will be able to challenge Sumathipala this time, Ranatunga said, “It is a matter of the stakeholders of the sport deciding whether they want to continue the same way or whether they want to have a change. The standard of our cricket has certainly gone down and we need to address these issues soon,” Ranatunga noted. SLC elections were scheduled for the 19th of May, but was postponed to June on technical grounds. There’s also a lot of uncertainty regarding the AGM taking place as Sumathipala has come under tremendous pressure after voting for the No Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe.

The No Confidence Motion was defeated and now the Prime Minster’s United National Party, the largest party in the coalition government, is making a bid to take over the Sports Ministry, a portfolio assigned to coalition partners Sri Lanka Freedom Party, of which Sumathipala is a member. Sumathipala is the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and his future will become clear after next week’s cabinet reshuffle.