Cricket - one controversy after another - Editorial

Just as the ICC World T20 tournament was to take off in Bangladesh, the Sri Lanka team was once again involved in their annual contract controversy battle with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), their employer.

It was most unfortunate as Sri Lanka were favourites in many ways to have a shot at the world title. They were number one in the format of the game, many players were in great form, had been prepared perfectly to the host country’s conditions after completing a successful tour there just a week before and the team morale was on a high after an emphatic victory in the Asia Cup where they remained unbeaten.

There was no doubt that the dispute was ill-timed and a large portion of the blame belonged to SLC for not settling the issue well in advance.

Players did not sign their contracts, setting it aside for another day, but they still flew out to Bangladesh to take part in the all-important world tournament.

But just as everyone thought the embers had died out under the ashes, a fresh breeze of controversy re-kindled more fire. This time however, Daily Mirror was at the centre of it all as a top player took an exception to an article published in our sports pages, leading to a wave of hatred and media bashing in social media backed by dubious gossip websites who had a field day in riding that wave to indulge in their favourite job of mud-slinging without an iota of proof.

The players are obviously popular and are adored by their legions of fans for their cricket. In a cricket-mad country it is enough to give them a demi-god status which disillusions the fans into believing that their heroes are infallible, both on and off the field.

It is an easy and popular choice to join the bandwagon and worship these demi-gods, but the reality of the situation is far from that.

The deliberate ploy orchestrated specifically to direct hatred towards the media is just one way to take the attention away from the actual place where the spot-light should be beaming down.

All our national cricketers are professionals. It means that they perform and entertain the public for a fee. The admiration and adoration come as a bonus to them, especially as they play for a team called Sri Lanka.

The recent negotiations between players and officials showed us that the players did not budge from their pay demands even when they had reportedly been threatened by SLC officials that none of the players would be sent to the ICC World T20 without signing contracts.

We do not for a moment say that the officials were right in their actions, but it also gave us a clear enough indication of where the loyalty of our heroes lay – with country or money.

We still believe players deserve a part of the money in question and we feel they were justified in their fight, but that simply does not justify all their actions.

The Daily Mirror article in question was a mere news report quoting officials related to the issue at hand, but what prompted a player to take a swipe at the media through social media rather than the accepted practice of using his right of reply shows us that there was something sinister behind the move.

Though the issue discussed was a small matter, it was blown out of proportion by the unusual reaction it received from one player and it later snowballed into yet another major controversy which led to the Sri Lanka team refusing to discuss the retirements of players as was demonstrated by the Sri Lanka team manager at a media conference on the eve of the team’s first match of the tournament.

We cannot stop lies and deception of others, but it makes us wonder why the players would ignore all local media when they opt to tell of an all-important decision like their retirement.

It is local media the built up their image and were with them as they developed into fully -fledged stars. It is local media which was the bridge that carried them into the people of their country. When they climb up and kick off the ladder by opting for foreign media ahead of local media to break their most important career decision what can we guess?

It only leads us to the age old question of country or money!!

It is now time, as we feel, at least for the duration of the tournament to abstain from creating controversies out of thin air in the hope for a world title that has eluded Sri Lanka for 18 years.