Newly elected president of Sri Lanka Cricket Shammi Silva said that the time has come to put aside all differences and come together for the good of the sport that has to be taken to the next level.
“This is the time for all of us to get together and take up the challenge to develop cricket further. We must work together to go forward and make a commitment. This is our vision and we are very clear about it,” said Silva in an interview with the Sunday Observer.
“In my view discipline is more important. Some people blame us but those who know us will say we have always done things in a transparent way. We are very practical in whatever we do.
“We have always being with the clubs who are our stakeholders. This is the our success story and all of my team members are very clear about it.”
Silva said they will not waste a minute and get down to executing their plans immediately using the integrity and experience of Mohan de Silva who raked in a thumping 96 votes as the secretary well ahead of Nishantha Ranatunga who polled just 43.
“We only have one direction and that is going forward. Those who voted for us know that we can deliver on our promises. Those who made personal attacks against us knew they cannot win through the democratic and voting process,” said Silva. “Even clubs and associations that did not vote for us will be taken care of without discrimination.”
Silva said it was rather alarming to know that there were divisions in the team
“The World Cup (in May-June) will be our immediate focus while motivating the players,” said Silva. He also said that upgrading the standard of school cricket will be another priority.
Contrary to what is being said about the country’s domestic club cricket set-up, Silva said he did not see anything wrong with it as Sri Lanka has won two World Cups (50 over and T20) and the team reached the final on three other occasions.