Pundits, experts and saviours are continuing to pick Sri Lanka’s riches by way of millions in dollars as the country’s heavily exposed and criticised cricket administration tries desperately to save face by enticing yet another fortune seeking foreigner to put things right.
Australian Tom Moody has become the latest overseas pundit to cash in on the island’s multi-million dollar cricket industry and earn a sum of USD 576,000 equivalent to Rs. 106 million, a massive amount by Sri Lanka’s living standards while its own experts who conquered the pinnacle of cricket in 1996 are not entitled to even half the value.
But Sri Lanka Cricket defended the entry of yet another foreigner into the alien club describing it as invaluable in the country’s march into the future.
“Tom Moody (Director of Cricket) will meet our key objectives and yes it will cost us a tidy sum”, said Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Mohan de Silva.
Under the terms and conditions of his contract Moody will have to be available for 320 days covering a period of three years as some of his tasks will be to prepare cricketers domestically for international deployment and uplift coaching.
He comes after some of the top-shelf Sri Lankan coaches and experts left the country over the past 20 years in either disgust unable to abide by political dictates or like prophets not welcome in their own country but snapped up by overseas markets.
Among them were ex-Sri Lanka players Duleep Mendis, Roy Dias, Bandula Warnapura, Rumesh Ratnayake, Champaka Ramanayake, Ruwan Kalpage and the last Naveed Nawaz who pulled off a world shocker when under his coaching guidance Bangladesh became Under-19 world champs in 2019 while a little known club cricketer Carlton Bernadus set up what was to become that country’s cradle or academy from which came a string of professionals who paved the way for greatness.
The irony now is that a newly installed Cricket Committee to advice on decision making has been unable to tackle or take up local challenges and given its nod to continue with foreign solutions that have been associated with a past or present that Sri Lankan followers had and have very little to brag about.
It also contrasts with the powerhouse of world cricket, India, who have reached the top in world rankings thanks to its dependence on home expertise with ex-allrounder Ravi Shastri playing the lead role as mentor and head coach.