Sri Lankan board set to be dissolved

The Sri Lankan cricket board is all set to be dissolved. Parliamentary sources revealed to Cricinfo that that there was every likelihood this would happen on Thursday afternoon, with an announcement to this effect following.

This comes on the heels of the the decision by Thilanga Sumathipala, the modern day godfather of Sri Lankan cricket, to return to the cricketing limelight by announcing his desire to contest an unprecedented fifth term as cricket board president. This has triggered determined behind-the-scenes politicking by his enemies and the government is poised to takeover the administration of the board for the third time since 1999.

Sumathipala's powerbase within the board's member clubs is now so strong after a decade of shrewd coalition building that his victory in an election, if held, would be guaranteed. No credible alternative will brave the embarrassment of certain heavy defeat. Arjuna Ranatunga's landslide defeat to Sumathipala two years ago acts as a powerful scarecrow to any ambitious contenders.

Sumathipala wants to make a comeback after a humiliating year in 2004 when his reputation was perhaps irredeemably scarred by his entanglement in an immigration scandal that led to him being held in police custody for five months. Sumathipala was forced to defend charges that he had invited a mafia figure using a false passport - a man accused of a long list of contract murders - to the 1999 World Cup in England.

The controversy prompted Sumathipala to officially stand down from the cricket board and handover the presidency to Mohan de Silva. Unofficially, he still retained effective control over key decision-making. But his backseat role provided respite from the constant media glare and general interest in the case waned. Nevertheless, his career as a cricket politician and his dream of heading the ICC apparently lay in tatters.

But Sumathipala's comeback capacity is legendary. First he was granted bail and then he somehow strengthened his position within the current government, which was precariously holding onto power with a fragile coalition. By October he was re-appointed the board's international envoy for ICC executive meetings and in January he was the driving force behind Cricket-Aid.

His chairmanship of Cricket-Aid, the cricket board's response to the tsunami tragedy, was, for his critics, predictable opportunism. They pointed to the program's obsession with publicity and PR as indicative of its real objectives - to re-build his public image. Stalwart supporters, meanwhile, insisted he was purely driven by a desire to help his fellow countrymen and claimed him to be simply the best man for the job.

The divergent views over Sumathipala's motives are typical of a man who is adored, almost worshiped, by some and abhorred by others. For some he's clever, dynamic and tough, a natural born leader and the kind of man that Sri Lanka needs to cement their place in the top tier of international cricket. For others, he symbolises all that is rotten within Sri Lankan cricket politics: a man driven by egoism and self-interest.

There is though one issue on which all agree: he's undefeatable under the current sports constitution. A recent Sunday newspaper ran a headline that summed it up: "Sumathipala - a fact that cricket has to live with". But some foes, especially Ranatunga, the deputy minister for tourism, who has been burning the ear of the president on the subject during the past year, are prepared to engage in a behind-the-scenes street fight.

Days after Sumathipala's nomination for the board presidency came a dramatic twist. Sumathipala was forced to leave an ICC executive meeting in Delhi following the government's last-minute decision to appoint an alternate representative. The willingness of the government to put Sumathipala in an embarrassing position in such a high-profile forum, a club he so lusts control off, confirmed a weakening of his position within the government.

Well informed sources have indicated to Cricinfo that the government has been having serious discussions regarding the installation of an interim committee before the AGM is held on March 27. The exact rationale for the board coup is not known, although it is understood that the government is uncomfortable with Sumathipala's complete monopoly on power and may consider far-reaching constitutional changes.

Of course, the fluid dynamics of cricket politics in Sri Lanka means that much uncertainty still hangs in the air. The political landscape could change overnight with a well-brokered deal. But even if the election goes ahead and Sumathipala does assume power, he will know that sharks are circling, sniffing out a reason, any reason, to throw him out of power. The curtain is rising on the next act of an astonishing cricket board drama.