Sri Lanka Cricket set for final strike

By. Callistus Davy

June.26 (Mirror Sports) - Sri Lanka Cricket is at the threshold of winning the battle for change as the much awaited new Constitution is being put through the finishing touches before it goes to Parliament for approval and the government’s Transformation Committee able to declare its mission is over.

The New Constitution when implemented will make Sri Lanka fall in line with the governing systems of other international cricket boards and has already found a most accepted cheer leader in former International Cricket Council (ICC) legal expert David Becker who met the current interim custodians of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and was provided with a thorough insight into one of the country’s most precious documents since Independence.

“We have done the Draft for the new Constitution and the ICC president (Jay Shah) was pleasantly surprised that we had done it in such a record time. So we (Transformation Committee) do our job that we were appointed to do and out we go”, said Dinal Philips who is also the Committee’s legal advisor.

Philips revealed the new Constitution will be in line with ICC requirements and aligned with the Constitutions of other countries and that no less a person than Becker had given them the nod. Since been installed seven weeks ago there had been speculation that any delay in drafting the new governance system would only leave room for detractors but the Transformation Committee said all doors for a re-entry of the old guard had been firmly closed.

“Our primary task was to work on the new Constitution that will now be sent to the Legal Draftsman and by July it could be tabled (in Parliament) and it will go through the process in Parliament”, said former Investment Minister and current head of the Transformation Committee Eran Wickremaratne.

He declined to say what changes there would be in the new Constitution to govern the affairs of cricket but it is learnt that a drastic transformation would be in the form of what would be called a Board of Governors or Directors with half of them elected and the other half appointed from among the country’s corporate superpowers with unblemished records.

Under the New Constitution the curse of votebuying and its sinister implications to enter the lucrative offices of SLC will also be confined to history books or in Reports at the auditor general’s department.

Prakash Schaffter, who is the secretary of the Transformation Committee said the concerns of stakeholders of SLC had been taken into account while drafting the new Constitution and any changes for the future governance of the country’s adored passion will be taken into account. “We’ll get everything done in the shortest possible space of time”, said Schaffter.