The Hon. Roshan Akmeemana

¶ 01 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

¶ 02 Given we are debating the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry, I will focus on cricket. Rather than dwell only on current setbacks and criticisms of Sri Lanka Cricket, I wish to offer a different perspective based on my experience as former captain of Trincomalee Under-15/17/19 district teams and as a current first-division club cricketer in Trincomalee.

¶ 03 Cricket reached us as a colonial inheritance—a game of the elite—but history never travels in straight lines. Saluting Aravinda de Silva, I recall 1996: not just a sporting victory, but a periphery nation breaching the center—an act of transcendence.

¶ 04 Today, in Trincomalee, women’s cricket has emerged as a struggle, almost a rebellion. Cricket itself, from dusty Colombo lanes to rural paddy bunds where youths play in rubber slippers with taped bats, is both a form of resistance and an expression of national identity. It unites a divided society under one flag: the child of a laborer can play alongside the child of a magnate. Yet access and opportunity are still determined by facilities.

¶ 05 I recall our Under-15 team’s first match on a turf wicket in Colombo; we were more exhilarated by touching proper turf than by the game itself—and some tried to take turf home! That is the inequality we face. Yet a year after a heavy defeat, the Trincomalee Sinhala Medium Central College team scored 665 in 50 overs—a record then.

¶ 06 Focusing solely on corruption in the board will not develop the game. Merely changing chairmen does not alter power structures that flow down to district level through registration quotas and control over club lists aimed only at the national team. We need grassroots access.

¶ 07 A key answer is to expand soft-ball cricket alongside leather-ball. For low-income and busy middle-aged groups, weekend and evening soft-ball formats enable participation. Volunteers already organize weekend tournaments. Government should recognize village sports clubs, provide basic facilities, and run regular weekend leagues—monthly or quarterly—to draw youth away from negative influences.

¶ 08 Do not focus only on the national XI or the board. Ensure every individual has time and space for sport; make sport a habit. Sri Lanka’s most accessible sport is cricket—use that to mobilize villages. Give special focus to women’s cricket: young women are knocking at the national door in Trincomalee—players like Balasuriya (U-19 captain in district) and Mitali Ayodhya from Kantale.

¶ 09 I also thank the President and the Minister for allocating Rs. 380 million for a Provincial/National-level sports ground in Trincomalee—long a special need of our district. I am grateful on behalf of our people.