- Bandula Dissanayake becomes new Secretary
President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Shammi Silva retained his influential post for an unprecedented fourth successive term, after being reelected uncontested during its 64th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Colombo yesterday (31).
As expected it was simply a case of reasserting Silva’s clout over the country’s wealthiest sporting institution, with two other contestants namely Jayantha Dharmadasa and Samantha Dodanwela withdrawing their respective nominations.
Though the incumbent SLC administration continues to function even overcoming legal and political storms in the recent past, the fortunes of the national team on the global cricketing arena, has continued to plummet much to the chagrin of its countless fans.
Under Shammi Silva’s stewardship, the men’s team have competed in five World Cups- two 50-over tournaments and three T20I competitions – only to experience ignominious first-round exits from them all.
The nadir of this alarming downfall was when the Men’s white-ball team failed to qualify for this year’s ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan and UAE.
Cricket analysts reckon this was an embarrassing indictment of the incumbent administration at Maitland Place.
But, the question is whether the top brass of the sport’s local governing body will be able to arrest this irreversible decline of the Men’s teams, in all formats of the game.
Presently the Men’s team is placed sixth in Tests and ODIs and a lowly eighth in T20Is-which is in stark contrast to its halcyon days in the past, when they continuously matched formidable outfits from abroad and even beat some of them.
The sole shining light in Silva’s controversial tenure thus far, has been Sri Lanka’s wins in both the Men’s and Women’s Asia Cups.
More often than not Shammi Silva’s administration since 2019, has been known for its unrelenting power struggles, legal battles and high-stakes political maneuvering.
This has made the SLC less of a sports administration and more of a veritable haven for personal and political agenda.
Therefore, how they manage to shed this negative perception in the next term, will more or less define not only their future, but the cricketing fortunes of the national team as well.
A noticeable feature of the AGM, supervised by retired Court of Appeal Justice Malanie Guneratne, was Acting Secretary Chryshantha Kapuwatte who was favoured to be elected as Secretary not being able to do so. Instead Bandula Dissanayake was elected uncontested as the new Secretary.
Meanwhile, Samantha Dodanwela who reportedly had submitted his nomination for four posts had withdrawn from the contest.
The list of uncontested SLC office-bearers for 2025-27 term as follows:
President – Shammi Silva
Vice Presidents – Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa, Ravin Wickramaratna
Secretary – Bandula Dissanayake
Treasurer – Sujeewa Godaliyadda
Assistant Secretary – Chryshantha Kapuwatte
Assistant Treasurer – Lasantha Wickremasinghe