By P.K. Balachandran, IANS
Colombo : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed a “Cricket Advisor” to guide him through his ambitious plan to sustain, develop and spread the game throughout the island including the war-hit northeast.
Former Sri Lanka leg spinner D. Somachandra de Silva has been designated the Presidential Cricket Advisor, a unique appointment in the annals of the cricketing world.
Victories on the cricket field have been a silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud for a people living amid an unending war, terrorist bomb blasts and high inflation, which is now a dizzying 24 percent.
“Somachandra de Silva was in the national squad in the very first Test Sri Lanka played (against England in 1982). Subsequently, he captained the national team in three Test matches in New Zealand,” ace Tamil language commentator A.H.M. Azwer told IANS.
“He has been a coach for school teams in Sri Lanka and England. The president considers this important because he wants the schools to be the resource pool for future cricketers,” said Azwer, a presidential advisor on media.
“The president is aware that Sri Lanka will soon have to have replacements for star performers like Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vas if it is to retain its top position. (Muthiah) Muralitharan is in top form now, but he may be able to play only for two more years,” Azwer said.
Rajapaksa is also keen that Sri Lanka’s cricketers must come from all parts of the country, including the Tamil-speaking areas in the northeast, which is now bearing the brunt of the war.
“The president wants a Sri Lankan Tamil (indigenous Tamil) particularly to be in the national team. There is none in the present team. Muralitharan is after all a Tamil of Indian origin,” Azwer said.
“The people of Jaffna are cricket-crazy. They can make excellent fast bowlers because they are hardy and hardworking. Jaffna lads have learnt to work and play under harsh climatic conditions. Such an orientation will be useful in today’s highly competitive game,” Azwer noted.
Rajapaksa has a plan to build a cricket stadium of international standard in Jaffna, like the one which he recently inaugurated in his own home turf Galle in the far south of the island.
“The president wants to promote national unity through cricket and demonstrate to the world through overseas tours that Sri Lanka is a united, multi-ethnic country.
And Somachandra de Silva is the right man for this task because he had captained a Moors (Muslim) cricket team though he is a Sinhalese, Azwer said.
Cricket is a favourite game even in the Tamil Tiger-controlled areas in northern Sri Lanka. And cricket is one of the few strands that unite these areas with the rest of Sri Lanka.
Even Tamils sympathetic to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) root for Sri Lanka in international matches, a fact that should help Rajapaksa in his quest to build national unity through sports.
“During the World Cup finals in March 1996, LTTE leaders allowed their cadres to take time off and watch the match and the cadres gleefully cheered the Sri Lankan team which eventually won,” recalled N. Vithiatharan, editor of the Tamil daily “Sudar Oli”.
But expectations of a repeat performance during the April 2007 World Cup finals were belied.
The LTTE staged a surprise air raid on Colombo taking advantage of the fact that the Sri Lankan armed forces were glued to TV sets watching Sri Lanka play, instead of keeping a watch on the sky above.
“The cricket associations of the northeastern districts play an important role in the Sri Lankan cricket board and often tilt the scales in board elections,” Vithiatharan said.
The LTTE actively promotes cricket among its cadres.
Yogaratnam Yogi, a top leader once and who is now in charge of its historical section, was coaching cadres in the game for many years.
Yogi had played fairly high-level cricket when he was a student in Colombo before joining the Tamil militant group.