Our involvement in the debate, which we named ‘country vs. money’, might have looked a result of a sudden impulse or some hidden agenda. But we considered that it was of our prime responsibility as part of the mainstream media in the country. We still think the Sri Lanka National cricketers, led by Mahela Jayawardene, set an unhealthy precursor by trying to stick to their Indian Premier League contracts without standing by their board which requested them to play in a Test series in England.

This is a complicated situation. Cricket in our era has drenched itself dangerously in the quagmire of commercialism, where any demarcation between what is good and what is bad has become extremely difficult. Cricketers, like most other individuals in society, are after money, at any cost. ‘Country vs. money’ therefore, looked a debate binding not only cricket but entire society. Some readers saw ‘The Island’s intervention as something that was born of anger, hatred and jealousy, against our ‘heroic’ cricketers.

Agents and Complications

Something which clearly stems out of the debate is that in this whole situation, the National cricketers and the local boards have become helpless or, to be precise, subordinate. Mahela, even after quite responsibly mentioning that he’d always be available for National duty at any given time in a letter to the SLC before the IPL, had to later eat his own words. Rather than just beating about the bush on various deals and contracts, Mahela was never confronted with the plain truth: why couldn’t he simply dump the hot IPL deal and play in the formal England Tests? This is a puzzling issue. Is he somewhere at a loss or is someone else involved in this whole scenario, who fears losing more than what Mahela & Co. would if the players are to get away from the IPL?

What is the role of the Player Agent in this issue? Are people aware of the ever-growing influence these nonsensical Agents, who live on selling the image of the players to local and foreign business establishments, will have on cricket in the near future?

Media

What is more evident here is the role of the media. They should be able to assess issues from a broader scope, especially during times of significance, with undeterred guts and verve.

Even having being mistakenly identified with the pro-Ranatunga camp at times, we have to state, with all credit to Arjuna, that he was one who, quite wittingly or not, took on most of the time the killer blow of unsavoury cricket commercialism head on. While not approving of all the measures he has put forth, we have to single out him as the thorn in the flesh of many cricket culprits, who’d run havoc disregarding all valid principles of the sport.

The Forum

We had a very open view when we launched the forum for our readers on Nov. 8. The greatest fear we had during the first few days was the idea that there wouldn’t be any reaction ‘for’ Mahela and his team as a barrage of criticism against him poured in at a rapid phase. Such views too, though, came lately and we published both such views (for/anti IPL/Mahela). At times, those who openly attacked us too were given ample publicity in our sports pages.

Believe it or not! Our true count on the responses sent by our readers was that 85% are anti-Mahela and the IPL and 15% are for Mahela and the IPL. The figure maybe a huge reason for the satisfaction of many because that indicated there are still some people who believe in the true spirit of sports amidst winds of change and the waves of dollars.

Conclusion

But rescuing sports from these envious forces is a struggle that surely spreads beyond the responsibility of the media. It is a duty of the policy makers. Unless the respective governments and the ICC intervene seriously at international level, the difference between ‘cricket-the-sport’ and ‘cricket-the-business-the-show-the-industry’ will slowly but surely vanish, completely.

After seeing all the mess, this is our conclusion: Mahela Jayawardene made a big, big blunder, firstly by overestimating the ‘symbolic’ power, the influence and the popularity of the National cricketer in Sri Lanka. The senior citizens here, we assume, are highly doubtful whether the 31-year-old Sri Lanka captain is mature enough to grapple with the impending complexities the sport faces now. He left space for others to paint him as a picture of a greedy skipper.

Distancing himself from Warnapura, Mendis, Ranatunga, Jayasuriya or even Atapattu, Jayawardene’s term will mark starkly the time Sri Lanka cricket detached itself from the general public. Controlled overwhelmingly by Player Agents, regional millionaires, TV moguls and betting syndicates, the post-Mahela cricket era will have metamorphosed into a fully fledged industry of its own, where the masses have a mere superfluous role. That is our observation.

Thanks Mahela, for your contribution!