-Written By Anubhavananda
(Lanka-e-News -23.March.2025, 11.00 PM) Twenty-nine years ago, today. It was March 17, 1996. It was a historic day. The Sri Lankan cricket team defeated Australia to win the ICC World Cup for the first time. On that day, the entire country was in a state of celebration. The “Daily News” newspaper reported that the Sri Lankan cricket team had climbed Mount Everest as its main story. A small man watched with tears of joy as Arjuna Ranatunga received the World Cup trophy from Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. His name was Ana Punchihewa. He was the chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.
Ana Punchihewa is a private-sector magnate. He is the regional head of the world’s leading multinational company, “Coca-Cola”. Ana received her primary education at Ananda College, Colombo, and went to Britain for higher education. There, he studied business management and accounting and worked for several world-renowned companies. Ana's passion was golf. It was Gamini Dissanayake who attracted him to cricket. Gamini is a character who can quickly identify true talents and win them over. Gamini, who learned about Ana, who was known as a "genius" in the private sector, invited him to serve on the Sri Lanka Cricket Board as his vice president. This is how Ana Punchihewa joined the cricket administration in this country.
Our Cricket Board, which had six hundred thousand rupees... In November 1994. Gamini Dissanayake, the leader of the UNP and the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, was tragically killed in the Thotalanga bomb blast. To fill Gamini's void, Ana Punchihewa was elected unopposed as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in March 1995. His secretary was Anura Tennakoon, who was respected by everyone in the sports world. When he became the chairman, there were only six permanent employees in the Cricket Board. The Board had six hundred thousand rupees in its possession...! He discussed with senior players and experts related to cricket the steps to be taken for the development of the game.
His dream was to win the World Cup. Many of his friends laughed at him for it. Ana firmly believed that the Sri Lankan cricket team needed a foreign coach. However, the financial situation of the board was an obstacle. Six people, including two brilliant cricketers, Allan Border, and Ian Botham, agreed to serve as our coaches, but Ana did not have the financial strength to pay the salaries and allowances they demanded. But Australian Dave Whatmore agreed to coach for a reasonable salary. But the board could not even pay that amount. In the end, Ana took out a loan from Cricket Australia for it.
In September 1995, Dave Whatmore, Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravin de Silva, Anura Tennakoon, Ranjith Fernando, and Ana came together to formulate a five-year cricket development plan. Its main objective was to make Sri Lanka number one in One Day and Test cricket. Its long-term plan was to become the best cricket nation by the year 2000. Ana wanted to not only improve the team's performance but also develop the entire system, including training standards, infrastructure, umpires, etc. The creation of four cricket academies in the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, and Dambulla was also a key part of this plan.
He also had a short-term plan. That was the 1996 World Cup. He assessed that if he could reach the final round, it would be a great achievement. He appointed our former Test captain Duleep Mendis as the team manager. Calling a meeting of cricket chiefs including Dave, Arjuna, Aravinda, Duleep, and others, Ana said, “I will not interfere in your decisions. You have that independence. I will provide all the necessary facilities. But you have to show results,” he imposed the condition.
Ana's approach gradually paid off. Sri Lanka won the "Singer Champions Trophy" in the United Arab Emirates, which featured West Indies and Pakistan. They won a Test series in Pakistan. Benson and Hedges reached the final of the Tri-Nation in Australia. Arjuna led Sri Lanka to victory in the 1996 Cricket World Cup, defeating Australia in the final. The entire country was engrossed in the festivities. Ana Punchihewa’s management "formula" was successful. He also had a short-term plan. That was the 1996 World Cup. He assessed that if he could reach the final round, it would be a great achievement. He appointed our former Test captain Duleep Mendis as the team manager. Calling a meeting of cricket chiefs including Dave, Arjuna, Aravinda, Duleep, and others, Ana said, “I will not interfere in your decisions. You have that independence. I will provide all the necessary facilities. But you have to show results,” he imposed the condition.
Amid the jubilation of the World Cup victory, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board elections were set. Ana believed that he, who had won a World Cup for the country, could be elected unopposed as the president for a second time. However several members of his executive committee played the role of Judas. Two weeks after Sri Lanka became world champions, on 31 March 1996, Upali Dharmadasa took over as the chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, defeating Ana Punchihewa in a close election. From then until today, for nearly three decades, the cricket underworld including Upali Dharmadasa, Jayantha Dharmadasa, Thilinga Sumathipala, Shammi Silva, and others have been ruling the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. During that time, they have sent our cricket game to the brink. There is no need to elaborate on that.
The 1996 World Cup victory was both a glorious moment in our cricket history and the beginning of a great tragedy. The only mistake that Ana Punchihewa made that day was to allow Sri Lanka to win the World Cup. Otherwise, Anna could have remained at the top of cricket for many more years uncontested. The Cricket Board, which had no money to pay Dave Whatmore's salary, was flooded with millions of US dollars after the World Cup victory. The cricket underworld, which has no love for the game of cricket, has been obsessed with money and prestige and has been fighting over the administration of cricket. The amount of corruption and fraud that has taken place there over the past three decades is billions of rupees.
Ana Punchihewa met with the heads of the cricket clubs to seek their support for the election held two weeks after the World Cup victory for the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka. Apart from the major sports clubs in the capital, other leaders asked Ana what they would get in return for their votes. Ana said that he had won the Cricket World Cup for Sri Lanka for the first time. But they openly demanded bribes in exchange for votes. “I brought the World Cup. Plans have been made to develop cricket in every province of the country. But I will not buy votes with money,” was Ana Punchihewa's direct and strong answer. But the corrupt mafia was more powerful than he had imagined. It was later revealed that bribes worth lakhs of rupees had been paid to get votes against him. Ana Punchihewa, who was a gentleman in every sense of the word, was not capable of fighting the cricket underworld.
The main component of the power behind the cricket mafia is the board of cricket clubs. Hundreds of board cricket clubs, which do not have a proper playing field or a cricket team, have been established over the past three decades. If they were really involved in cricket, our cricket would not have fallen so low. But they are only there to cast votes in the cricket board elections. All these boards are the creations of the cricket mafia. Through that, they win elections and maintain their mafia dominance. This reality was once explained very simply by Muttiah Muralitharan, one of the greatest spinners in the world.
Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva were two of the key figures in the conspiracy to oust Ana Punchihewa from the position of Sri Lanka Cricket Chairman. Arjuna later publicly apologized for his mistake. But by then, the damage was done. The cricket mafia, which took power after ousting Ana Punchihewa, also abolished the five-year cricket development plan he was implementing. If at least cricket academies had been established in the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, and Dambulla as contained in that plan, our cricket would not have fallen to the humiliating level it has reached today. Later, Ana Punchihewa told the media that Arjuna Ranatunga once came to her and said, “Boss, we won the World Cup too early.” That sentence by Arjuna perfectly encapsulates the tragedy of our cricket over the past three decades.
When Ana Punchihewa was appointed as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, its bank account had six hundred thousand rupees. Today, the annual income of the Cricket Board mafia is 17500 million rupees. Shammi Silva's "Sri Lanka Cricket" is the strongest mafia in our country today. It will make any government that comes to power dance in the palm of its hand. The NPP government of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, which won the largest mandate in history since independence, has also fallen into the position of an obedient dog in the face of Shammi Silva's "Sri Lanka Cricket" mafia.
A committee chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice K.T. Chitrasiri was appointed by a proposal presented in Parliament with the common consent of the government and the opposition to control the cricket mafia in our country. Its report was submitted to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in June last year, but he did not implement its recommendations. Today, that report is before the Sports Minister of the NPP government, Sunil Kumara Gamage. His behavior is like a swindler who has eaten a piece of meat. Sunil Handunnetti, who exposed corruption worth millions of rupees in Sri Lanka Cricket when he was the chairman of the COPE committee, is now on the same page with Shammi Silva. Shamelessness is greater than big money. We will only note at this time that the people are watching with disappointment and frustration at this shameful behavior of the NPP government.
(English translation by Sanjaya Dassanayake)
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by (2025-03-23 17:42:00)
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