Should domestic structure be changed in Sri Lanka?

A Lot of discussions are being made about the current domestic cricket structure. Cricket authorities and former players are very much vocal about this and eager to see a new structure. Why should it be changed?

The main issue with the current system is the lack of quality. There are plenty of players playing in Sri Lanka for their respective clubs, but the real quality is lacking. There was a time where entering to Sri Lanka national side was quite a difficult task due to the huge competition. But today, almost every game we see new faces coming up to the team. Entering to the team should be made difficult for the players. It needs to create a huge competition among players and make players working hard to play for the national side. That is why an extra layer should be introduced like a provincial setup after the club set up where the country’s best 75 – 100 players are playing each other to enter national side. Then we will see the real quality and much improved players playing for the national side. Another thing is that, quality should be made in terms of financial aspect as well. There should be a high motivation for domestic players for playing cricket. Therefore they should be paid highly. Since we are talking about a club tournament followed by a provincial tournament, the remuneration difference should be made visible. Then the players will be motivated to jump to the next level. It will help them to improve as players as well.

Cricket pitches in Sri Lanka are not healthy for a player to develop. For an example batsmen are not tested in these pitches since they are provided very friendly wickets. Some batsmen score double hundreds in one day in a three day game. Spinners have no issue of playing in Sri Lanka, but the fast bowlers are suffered. Fast bowlers don’t bowl longer spells in match conditions. Captains take them away from the attack straight away after bowling 3 or 4 overs. If the pitches are made as even wickets which are helpful for batsmen and bowlers both, the quality that we are talking would be seen. Leaving bit of grass on wickets will motivate fast bowlers and improve them a lot. Then they can bowl more overs in a day and their bodies will be get used for that sort of spells. It is quite evident that our fast bowlers are getting injured more frequently. It is due to the fact that they are not used to bowl longer spells in match conditions. We have seen some impressive fast bowlers coming through and disappeared suddenly. When asking about why they are not playing, the answer comes as saying they are injured. So it is Important to help batsmen as well as bowlers by providing better wickets.

Authorities should take a step to play the national cricketers in these domestic tournaments as much as possible. Because something that is familiar with Sri Lanka Cricket is that, whenever a domestic tournament is played on, the best players who represent national side are playing in overseas tournaments such as IPL, county cricket, big bash etc. This is not good for our younger cricketers. They should play with these players and learn to play high standard cricket. They will gain so much experience when the national side players do play these tournaments. If not, the quality we expect will not be featured in these tournaments. Quantity wise Sri Lanka is blessed with so many cricket players with talent since the most popular sport in Sri Lanka has been cricket. But to compete against top quality sides in international cricket, we need to develop quality players with good temperament. That is why likes of Mahela, Sanga and Aravinda do raise their voice to change the domestic structure. Yes, it needs to change sooner rather than later.