The team has no coach. The players are dispirited, the captain effectively says he’s no longer the captain, the board is in a mess and has lost $9 million from missed TV rights opportunities.This isn’t India, though the resemblance is eerie. It’s Sri Lanka, where the top international players have become pawns in a game of brinkmanship involving the board’s sacked controversial president Thilanga Sumathipala and the government-appointed interim committee and the island state’s sports minister.The root of Sri Lanka’s problems lies in the battle between Sumathipala and the ICC’s ethics committee, over the latter’s inquiry into his gaming activities that are against ICC protocols for national board members.The committee’s report to the ICC has been leaked to some media sources in Sri Lanka and do not make for pretty reading as the SLC president battles to save face and his reputation against the damaging report. Sumathipala — now out on bail — was a year ago languishing in jail on what is a serious immigration fraud charge.Linked to that is the fact that the board’s monies are still tied up in a long-running row between SLC and contracts signed and agreed to by a previous interim committee and a couple of international companies. And the proposed tour of India next month was called off, denying them an anticipated $9 million in TV rights.It would be quite hilarious if it weren’t serious. Several top players don’t quite know where they stand, the government has frozen SLC bank accounts and an Ian Botham tour of the tsunami-ravaged south as part of a cricket aid promotion to raise international funds is in danger of attracting adverse publicity.It has left the players on a decidedly sticky wicket. Team captain Marvan Atapattu suggested at a recent media briefing — on the team’s return from the tour of New Zealand — that the impasse has created a problem for his teammates, who feel they have lost their identity. ‘‘Frankly, until the next team and captain are selected we are just players’’, he said.He hoped there would be a swift resolution to the current crisis but players are concerned about their short-term future. There is a need to renegotiate and sign contracts and sort out terms with a new coach.Tryphon Mirando, secretary of the Interim Committee, said it faced a functioning problem until ‘‘certain specifics, such as funds needed to run the game, are freed’’.But the players’ meeting with the sacked SLC board and Sumathipala on Monday is being used by the SLC as scoring political brownie points with the players rather than tackling bigger issues of who is running the game in the country.Sounds too close for comfort.
