(10-17-2023, 10:38 AM)JamisBanda Wrote:  I mean there is a large portion of SL cricket fans who don't see the bigger picture.

(10-17-2023, 10:27 AM)rsk19 Wrote:  Do you know what guys, the best outcome for our cricket would be getting beaten by the Netherlands...
If we end up at rock bottom, it might force some changes that can only be good in the longterm.

(10-17-2023, 10:32 AM)pj57 Wrote:  I understand where you come from but I don't think you know SLC well enough. Nothing will make them change anything. They will find some excuse or scapegoat.

(10-17-2023, 10:40 AM)pj57 Wrote:  

(10-17-2023, 10:35 AM)rsk19 Wrote:  They need to be forced to by higher authorities (Sports Minister).  Maybe we could start a petition and get a million signatories lol

Sports Minister has tried various things but SLC has either gone to courts or to the ICC to stop him.

(10-17-2023, 10:52 AM)JamisBanda Wrote:  

(10-17-2023, 10:47 AM)rsk19 Wrote:  That needs to change. I don’t know how the law or politics works in SL, but could constitutional change be debated and passed in parliament? They need to enact a change to the constitution. And people need to be more visibly outraged and vocal about their frustrations with what is happening in SLC. Cricket is a source of national pride - it needs to be managed much much better. And the change needs to be enforced.

Too many big shots are profitable from the current system, they don't want any changes.

(10-17-2023, 11:01 AM)Bada Wrote:  I think there's a clause in the SLC constitution which dictates you need to consult the executive committee of SLC in order to make certain amendments. Parliament is an option, but the President has to influence and throw his support. The thing is SL has so many problems as a country that cricket takes a back seat. Sports minister is making an effort. Credit where it's due.

(10-17-2023, 11:04 AM)Regista Wrote:  I would also argue that sports is a large contributing factor to the socio economic development of a country...
Is it all doom and gloom?

(10-17-2023, 11:08 AM)Bada Wrote:  We have been posting suggestions here for a decade. The system just doesn't work without constitutional changes.

(05-29-2017, 09:09 AM)Bada Wrote:  Gone are the days when Sri Lankan fans could hope for their team to punch above their weight to reach the final stage of global tournaments. Gone are the days when the country produced cricketers who could bring joy to us. Now we are stuck with a bunch of mediocre cricketers who look absolutely incompetent against the top 4-5 sides in the world in a never ending period they love to define as a ‘rebuilding phase’.

Is this a sudden struggle or something that was always on the cards? Let’s have a look at various aspects of SL cricket to find out.

Domestic structure
There are about 20 clubs with First Class status in Sri Lanka that take part in the main competition as opposed to 6 in Australia and South Africa who have always been competitive in international cricket. The quality of the cricket being played at the domestic level is diluted by the presence of too many cricketers who are not worthy of playing First Class cricket. Sri Lanka’s Premier League tournament consists of too many 3-day matches until the final stage of the league while Bangladesh cricket conducts a 4-day tournament.

The fast bowlers are there only to make up the numbers and they don’t get to bowl enough spells anyway due to the contest being 3-day. The batsmen aren’t consistently challenged as they get to face quite a few poor bowlers we have in domestic cricket due to the ridiculous structure they have embraced. Should it really surprise us when they break down after playing a Test match or when our batsmen struggle to perform well against international sides?

A domestic structure where the top 50-60 cricketers in the country play against each other is a must. It should happen consistently every year for a long time to prepare these cricketers for the next level. The move from the club system to a meaningful competition should have happened a long time ago.

Administration and voting system
Being the head of SLC has become a powerful and lucrative position since Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996. SLC is more of a business than a sports administration. The system is designed in such a way that the primary objective of anyone who gets the position is to stay in power, and in order to do that he has to keep the vote base happy. You should know they are trying to feed you a load of codswallop if they tell you otherwise.

Who are these voters? 86 Cricket clubs around the country that get an annual payment from SLC regardless of whether they contribute to SL cricket or not.

How many votes are there? 147. The number is about 20 in England which is the birth place of the sport. It’s less than 10 in Australia.

Moving forward with a main domestic structure that features only the very best talents is out of the equation when the administrators are there to entertain the agenda of these clubs that can decide who should be in power. No SL government has bothered to change this constitution as the government official (Sports Minister) who is supposed to monitor the proceedings is in most cases a chum of the SLC head. For example, the current government is not concerned about how the SLC President is wasting millions on PR stunts to build his own image. The previous government was happy to have a cricket ground in a jungle to please their leader although the project carried the risk of SLC going almost bankrupt.

Administration and domestic structure put SL at a disadvantage even before the players make it to international cricket, but sadly it doesn’t stop there.

Selection policy and vision
This is something hard to find in SL cricket. It probably doesn’t exist at the moment. You see the same old tested and failed players making appearances from time to time while the promising young players are sidelined for perennial failures. It doesn’t last for very long even if they are given an opportunity because the selectors panic when it comes to young talent. On the other hand, they are happy to keep failures around for extended periods. Cricket is a professional sport like any other occupation where the most suitable candidates should get the opportunities they deserve. The lack of professionalism shown by SL in this area is appalling.

Strategy and evolution
The game has changed over the years. ODI cricket in particular has become a different game compared to what it was 10-12 years ago. The top sides in the world are up to date with this and have made necessary changes to keep themselves competitive while Sri Lanka still seems to be stuck in the past. The people who call themselves the ‘think tank’ are happy to go in with 2 or 3 bowlers when the situation is demanding 4 or 5 frontline bowlers. To sum up the strategy in one sentence, a part time slow bowler would play the role Muttiah Muralitharan used to play. They also seem to be happy with batsmen who score at a rate which was acceptable in the 90s. It’s as if these people live in an entirely different version of reality.

Fitness and commitment
The fitness of most SL cricketers is simply awful compared to the professional cricketers in the top teams. Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan still put this lot to shame. SL had the best fielding side in Asia once. Now they have the worst fielding side in the world when you look at the top 7-8 sides. The lack of commitment in SL cricketers is very evident. Whether they even intend to improve is debatable.

The one thing that’s not debatable is that SL cricket is on the highway to self-destruction when you consider how SL has been doing in the aforementioned aspects from administration to cricketers.

(10-17-2023, 12:00 PM)Bada Wrote:  This petition by Murali, Sidath, Tissera, etc. needed to work
https://www.newswire.lk/2021/02/15/court-issues-notice-on-slc-and-sports-minister-over-petition-filed-by-former-cricketers-including-murali/

I don't know the current status. Sports minister said SLC agreed to some of the changes a few months ago.

SLC has 147 votes. ECB had 18 or 21 some time ago. AUS had like 10. Most of these votes in the SLC election are called "paper clubs" because they don't contribute to cricket. Some don't even have cricket grounds. SLC has absolute power to pay these people and get votes. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think only a President can do something meaningful using his/her executive powers. This hasn't been done up to date.

As I have always said, it's amazing that SL had a great run in cricket for years considering only 3 or 4 provinces of a small country contributed to the game with all the problems we had. Those players performed not because of the system, but in spite of it. They had serious commitment.

SL cricket can't be developed to reach full potential until the voting system goes hand in hand with a new domestic structure that features about 6 provincial/zonal teams.

(10-17-2023, 06:01 PM)Bada Wrote:  SLC actually hasn't tried anything meaningful in decades, which is why SL has one of the worst domestic structures in the world. This is not about the people who coach the first XI. There is no quick fix for this. The first step is admitting that the current system is not working, instead of going "See, we have the talent" when they win a series here and there. I predicted this fall in 2014 when everyone else was partying. Just couldn't see this "someone will step up" people talked about happening for real with the players and the structure (if you can call it a structure LOL) SL had.

(10-18-2023, 03:33 AM)Bada Wrote:  SLC has been like this since 1996. The only difference in 2022/2023 is this minister called for a report from the auditor general and supported the petition to change the constitution. The previous ministers apart from Harin Fernando turned a blind eye or got paid to do so. There's so much money in SLC because the revenue is in USD.

(10-24-2023, 05:52 AM)mugatiya Wrote:  We've noted down everything that needs to change with the SLC for 10-15 years on multiple forums now. I've spoken to Sidath W etc personally about what needs to change.

There was a point where we thought he would take this all the way but then everything just goes into the void and we never hear anything.

SLC is just a microcosm of SL at large and how institutions operate in that country. SLC can't and never will be an exception.

(10-18-2023, 02:06 AM)Bada Wrote:  

Quote:Another area that we need to address is our High-Performance Center. Ours must be the only High-Performance Center in the world that has neither an indoor net facility nor a swimming pool. Bangladesh took the blueprint from us for a High-Performance Center and they have these facilities all over the country nowadays. We were busy putting up new cricket facilities in Maithripala Sirisena’s electorate and Dayasiri Jayasekara’s electorate. Of course, Sooriyawewa is not the only white elephant in our cricket.

There seems to be too many egos in cricket adamant that their viewpoint is right and not willing to listen to anyone else. With that kind of attitude, we are heading for disaster. Last World Cup in England was a wakeup call. We didn’t act fast enough and were forced to play the qualifiers. This World Cup is scary. We are paying the price for being petty minded and not addressing vital issues.

(10-18-2023, 02:16 AM)rsk19 Wrote:  These things are an utter disgrace

There must be key performance indicators for SLC admin staff - like staff in any profession.  To monitor their performance in terms of growth and progress of SLC and to hold them accountable!

(10-18-2023, 02:28 AM)Bada Wrote:  SLC cut players' salaries/retainers citing poor performance. However, the CEO's salary keeps going up. There is no such thing as performance appraisal/evaluation in this administration. It's just a bunch of good buddies given access to millions of dollars so they can go joy riding. This is why they are desperate to stay in power. It's very lucrative.

(10-18-2023, 03:20 AM)Bada Wrote:  

(10-18-2023, 02:46 AM)rsk19 Wrote:  Well, then the Sports Minister is not doing his job.

That's not how it works. ICC will ban SL cricket for political interference if the minister sacks the board. Whenever he tries to take action, SLC runs to the court and ICC.

Only way to sack them is via the auditor general's report and financial crimes division. Minister has already instructed to take action.

(10-18-2023, 04:37 AM)Bada Wrote:  

(10-18-2023, 04:28 AM)rsk19 Wrote:  Well then who is supposed to monitor their performance (regular performance reviews) with respect to progress and KPIs just like in any other job?  I don’t mean fire them, I mean hold them accountable.  Don’t tell me that they are answerable to no-one.

The auditor general must certainly take action wrt financial mismanagement.

In reality, they are answerable only to ICC and it's not like any other job. How do you think they have been getting away with this shit for more than 2 decades? Go back a few years, the minister could actually sack them and appoint people like Sidath to run an interim committee. Even that is difficult with ICC now.

Which leaves us with the only option - auditor general > lawsuit > prosecution.

This is why a proper constitution is needed, so you could remove people if they are not working towards the goals.

(10-24-2023, 05:26 AM)Bada Wrote:  The best SL can expect from ICC is a window of 6 or 12 months to change the constitution. They did provide that a few times. SL couldn't get the job done.

(10-18-2023, 04:45 AM)Bada Wrote:  What's going to happen if Cricket AUS decides to skip conducting Sheffield Shield for a year? They will be kicked out of office. SL cricket needs a constitution like that. Their only duty at the moment is to play the club tournament and fund them. That is good enough to get the votes. They conduct the provincial tournament from time to time when media and followers complain. It's a joke.

(11-04-2023, 05:47 AM)Bada Wrote:  

(11-04-2023, 05:44 AM)Regista Wrote:  In an ideal world, what would Sri Lanka’s domestic structure look like? And how would the player development/talent finding  systems look like?

Should SL copy the approach of smaller countries like South Africa and New Zealand who manage to develop high level players consistently?

It would look like the Sheffield Shield. 6 provincial teams/provincial cricket associations. Then club cricket would be similar to grade cricket. Schools feed clubs, then clubs feed provincial cricket.

(11-04-2023, 05:49 AM)Bada Wrote:  But I've been saying that for more than a decade

I don't think anything meaningful will happen. They will sack selectors or coaches.

(11-02-2023, 11:39 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  

(11-02-2023, 11:12 PM)kalu5678 Wrote:  10 years ago it was impossible to imagine India have the best and varied pace attack. Now they have. What did they do different? IPL?

FYI they have the best spinners too

It's the boring stuff that SLC doesn't care about

Structures/Process/Systems/Pathways

National Cricket Academy
The U-19 Zonal Cricket Academy
Rahul Dravid
Focus on fitness by international level physios from 17+ age group at ZCA
Data -  fitness parameters, reaction to workloads, runs, wickets, catches, run-outs. The coaches add another, qualitative, layer to these assessments
When the young kids left the camps - they track their fitness via an App
Playing more A team matches
Bharat Arun
IPL obviously
Desire to win abroad
Desire to build a fast bowling battery
Using Ranji to trophy to develop better pitches to help fast bowling

India is lucky they have the money to have these programmes in place but nothing is ever an overnight success..these are decades in the making.

These systems create finished players when they hit the international level. Which is why their bench strength is so good and you have situations like their B side winning a test series in Aus and why there is another production line of batters/quicks waitingin the wings.

SLC simply does not have the foresight to formulate a plan like this and execute it over 5+ years.

(11-10-2023, 09:35 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  Great work. Weird because over the last 2 weeks I noted a bunch of new members and some non SL members asking about how things worked and was in the process of trying to put together a Primer of sorts.

This info is good and am happy to put it together if anyone is interested.

What questions people would like to learn more about in something like this?

(11-10-2023, 09:35 PM)mugatiya Wrote:  Great work. Weird because over the last 2 weeks I noted a bunch of new members and some non SL members asking about how things worked and was in the process of trying to put together a Primer of sorts.

This info is good and am happy to put it together if anyone is interested.

What questions people would like to learn more about in something like this?