Sri Lanka Cricket has announced the resignation of Mahela Jayawardena who served as the ‘Consultant Coach’ of the SLC.

Meanwhile, it also reported that head coach Chris Silverwood too, has resigned.

It is also reported that SLC is still considering his resignation with hopes of retaining him for the upcoming tours against India and England.

The resignations follow Sri Lanka’s early exit from the ongoing World Cup.

Meanwhile, it is also rumoured that Sanath Jayasuriya, who also functioned as a consultant coach, also intends to resign.

Frank Duckworth, the man whose mathematical knowledge helped to revolutionise rain-affected cricket, has died aged 84.

The Lytham-born statistician created the Duckworth-Lewis method, a model to recalculate scores when limited-over matches were curtailed by weather conditions, with fellow Lancastrian Tony Lewis.

Announcing Duckworth’s death, fellow statistician Rob Eastaway said he had been “a very genial man” who was “proud” of the method, despite it leaving casual fans somewhat flummoxed.

“A lot of people either claim they don’t understand it or don’t like it, but they know deep down, it is the best way of working,” he said.

The former King Edward VII School Lytham student and University of Liverpool graduate spent his entire career working in the nuclear industry.

Originally employed as a metallurgist, he found he had an ability to extract useful information from masses of numerical measurements.

A course in statistics followed and he later became a statistician, being elected as a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1974.

The formula has become a part of cricket folklore

At the society’s conference in 1992, he presented a short paper which proposed a formula for target correction in rain interrupted one-day cricket matches.

This led him to meet Lewis, a mathematics lecturer, who suggested an analysis of one-day score sheets based on Duckworth’s proposed formula.

Their method was devised in the wake of a farcical Cricket World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa in 1992.

Rain stopped play with South Africa needing 22 runs from 13 balls, but on resumption, the then-method of recalculation, which was based on productive overs, saw them requiring an almost impossible 22 runs off one delivery.

Speaking in 2007, Duckworth, who lived in Gloucestershire, said he recalled hearing BBC Test Match Special commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins “on the radio, saying ‘surely someone, somewhere, could come up with something better'”.

“I realised that it was a mathematical problem that required a mathematical solution,” he said.

The subsequent Duckworth-Lewis method was first used in the ICC Trophy in Malaysia in 1997 and in 1998, it was applied in New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, India and West Indies.

The International Cricket Council adopted the method for the 1999 World Cup in England and it was adopted on a trial basis for all cricket by the ICC in 2001 before becoming the permanent solution three years later.

It is now known as the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method after Australian statistician Prof Steven Stern became the custodian of the method following his predecessors’ retirement.

Stern updated the method in 2014 to take into account modern scoring trends and T20 cricket.

The method was used as recently as Monday in the rain-affected World Cup match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method was called into action at the T20 World Cup on Monday

Duckworth received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath in 2015.

In the citation, it said he had been as important to the nuclear industry as he had been to cricket.

“He came to realise the importance of statistics, not just to ensure reactor safety but also to assure the public that the reactors are safe,” it said.

“At that time, there were no statisticians working at the laboratories, so he set about making himself into a statistician.

“Then he had to convince his colleagues and others of the power of statistics, and spreading that idea has been at the core of everything he has done since.

“Persuading the cricket administrators that statistics could help them was just another example of that.”

Mr Eastaway said while the statistician had been a powerhouse when it came to numbers, he also had a lighter side.

“When Tony Lewis died in 2020, he phoned to tell me that people thought he was already dead,” he said.

“They were like a comedy double act.

“Lewis was the straight man and Frank was very jovial.”

(BBC News)

Minister of Tourism, Lands, Sports, and Youth Affairs Harin Fernando, stated that he will resign from his ministerial position if allegations of indiscipline within the Sri Lankan cricket team, currently participating in the 2024 T20 World Cup, are proven.  

He highlighted the government’s significant investment in athletes’ welfare, noting that 60 athletes who have achieved international recognition receive a monthly allowance of Rs.50, 000, while an additional 850 athletes receive an allowance of Rs.10, 000 per month.

The Minister of Tourism, Lands, Sports, and Youth Affairs expressed these views while joining the press briefing held at the Presidential Media Centre today (24) under the theme “Collective Path to a stable country”.

Minister Harin Fernando also noted that the government has implemented measures to provide insurance coverage for school rugby players.

The minister who further commented said:

In the 75-year history of independent Sri Lanka, the “Urumaya” freehold land deeds program marks the first initiative by a president to provide freehold land deeds to the public. The program, launched in February, has already issued freehold land deeds to over 50,000 people. It aims to distribute 02 million freehold land deeds through the “Urumaya” program.

However, there seems to be a lack of public understanding about the program, causing delays in the submission of offer papers to the Divisional Secretariat for conversion into freehold deeds. To address this, a mobile service will start this week to inform the public, and buses will be used to expedite the distribution process by raising awareness at the divisional secretariat level. Additionally, activities to provide 12,000 freehold land deeds for the North-West Province and another 12,000 for the Matara district are nearing completion.

When we talk about the tourism sector, over 990,000 tourists have visited the country this year. The committee’s report on the process of granting free visas will soon be presented to the Cabinet. Following this, the implementation of free visa issuance is anticipated, which could significantly boost tourism industry growth. Currently, five global promotional campaigns have been executed to attract tourists, with specific programs planned for China, Japan, India, and Europe. Additionally, there’s a “must visit” initiative aimed at enhancing Sri Lanka’s appeal among tourists.

As a result of promotional campaigns carried out by the Ministry of Tourism’s, Sri Lanka has successfully entered the top ten lists of global tourist destinations. A notable 33% of tourists revisit Sri Lanka, indicating a positive trend for the tourism industry. Efforts are underway to enhance maritime tourism, particularly focusing on transforming Trincomalee and Arugam Bay into hubs for maritime activities. Additionally, plans are in motion to launch domestic flight services aimed at further developing the tourism sector.

Furthermore, the new Sports Act is set to be presented for Cabinet approval. Sri Lanka boasts 73 different sports, and the new legislation will encompass all of them, including cricket. Some groups are employing various advertisements to address players’ mental conditions in cricket. Allegations of misconduct have surfaced against Sri Lankan players during this year’s T20 World Cup, and I am prepared to resign from my ministerial post if these accusations are substantiated.

Efforts have been on-going to depoliticize sports, a goal further reinforced by the new Sports Act, which bars even local councillors from holding office in sports associations. The Ceylon Premier League Cricket Tournament is overseen by the International Cricket Council (ICC), and we do not interfere in its affairs. There are plans to secure funding from the ICC to construct an additional stadium capable of hosting day-night matches. For a country to host a tournament like the World Cup, it requires at least five international-standard stadiums capable of day-night matches. By building this additional stadium, Sri Lanka aims to meet this requirement and potentially host the 2026 Cricket World Cup alone.

Similarly, 400 school rugby players have been insured, and a new program has been initiated to support these children. The government has also introduced a nutritional allowance of Rs.10, 000 per month for 850 athletes selected through the sports strength program. Furthermore, the government has allocated monthly stipends of Rs.50, 000 to sixty high-performing athletes.

Attention has also been directed towards renovating the Sugathadasa Stadium. To facilitate this, the Khettarama Stadium is expected to be transferred to the Cricket Institute, along with a funding allocation of one billion rupees for the renovation works. Additionally, there are plans to enact legislation in the future to bring sports complexes across the island under the management of Sugathadasa. Moreover, the Sports Ministry is organizing a sports festival scheduled for next August.

The rescue of the country from bankruptcy and its subsequent progress to a stable position has been achieved through various initiatives. President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s leadership has played a pivotal role in this transformation. Economic stability has significantly benefited from initiatives aimed at enhancing cultural heritage, boosting tourism, and supporting sports. As a result, future elections are inevitable. It is crucial to note that if citizens exercise their voting rights wisely, the upcoming decade can be hailed as the decade of the citizen

(President’s Media Division)