The Sri Lankan river of talent has all but dried up. For many, the blame lies firmly with the administrators. The World Cup win should have been a watershed for the game's development, but while the bounty brought gold-diggers and status-hunters, there was little grassroots progress.
Though Sri Lanka's administration debacles are historic, there have been few to match the fierce power struggle in recent weeks between Sri Lanka's sports minister, Jeewan Kumaratunga, and Thilanga Sumathipala, the most controversial and powerful administrator in the island's history.
It all erupted a few days before the board's AGM in March and ended five weeks later, when armed police stormed the board's headquarters to dispel Sumathipala's security guards and transfer control to the interim committee headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa, a successful businessman and an old enemy of Sumathipala. But the players found themselves caught in the middle, scared of taking sides and having to pay the consequences later. On one side was the government; on the other was a powerful man known for his comebacks.
Sumathipala's executive committee had refused to leave quietly after being accused of financial mismanagement. Both committees claimed control of the board, its finances and the players. Ridiculously, both held parallel negotiations with the players over their annual contracts and even with prospective candidates for the post of Sri Lanka's national coach. Sumathipala's team claimed authority over all the board's "immovable" property and sealed off the board headquarters. This left Sri Lanka Cricket employees frightened and confused about their futures. As the battle headed into Sri Lanka's notoriously time-munching courts, the situation became ever more complicated and confused.
The crisis became an international embarrassment when a training session for the national team was abandoned after Sumathipala's committee refused to release balls. The players were furious, but only able to vent their frustrations in private. One player recently commented, privately, that Sri Lanka would never be the best team in the world because of its administrators. His sentiments run through the team.
But as the sides entrenched themselves, the ICC, which had straddled a fence till then, declared that they would recognise the interim committee - a move that swung the initiative towards the sports minister. This came as a surprise, given the ICC's reticence over internal squabbles of member boards, but it reflected another controversy secretly burning within the ICC.
The ICC hierarchy has long been concerned by Sumathipala's links with the gambling industry and had launched a Code of Ethics inquiry to try and ascertain just how strong those links were. Sumathipala maintains that he has handed over all control of his bookie business to his family, but the inquiry found him evasive. The conclusions of the report, leaked to a Sri Lankan newspaper, did not provide pleasant reading for Sumathipala.
Sumathipala has been left waging expensive legal battles on all fronts. His ambition to head the ICC is threatened by his past and the move to end the rotational presidency. At home, Kumaratunga is determined to break Sumathipala's vice-like grip over cricket clubs and to bring about constitutional changes. The minister recently amended the sports law, which allowed him to take over the board headquarters.
Critics have urged the minister to end the façade of democracy within the board that allows Sumathipala to win elections uncontested. They maintain that the system is irredeemably corrupt and that a new system is needed to manage a sports association with an annual income of over $15 million. But the minister's victory is by no means assured in a country that is politically fragile. Sumathipala has always been the master of comebacks and he will not forfeit this battle easily.