by Rex Clementine
In this day and age, some people who enter cricket administration rarely want to leave the honourary posts and eventually when they have to, they move out having made a fortune. Of course, there are exceptions and one such exception is K. Mathivanan, who functioned as Secretary and Vice-President of Sri Lanka Cricket from 2007 to 2020.
Mathivanan was felicitated by President Ranil Wickremesinghe during the 150th year celebrations of Colombo Colts Cricket Club on Saturday at Park Road.
Mathivanan is an exception for he is known for his honesty and integrity. Many believe that why his thriving business – East West Marketing faced challenging times was because he had been dedicating too much time for cricket. Eventually, he gave up his business and retired.
Mathivanan was a cricketer at school. He came to Colombo from Jaffna for work. Step by step he built his own business empire and employed 35 cricketers at one point. More than half of the Colts team were employed at his company.
He didn’t stop at Colts but went beyond employing cricketers from all parts of the country. From Rangana Herath to Angelo Mathews, he employed every deserving cricketer.
Although Colts has gone through a facelift at present thanks to funding from SLC, at one-point Mathivanan funded every project of the club be it building the dressing room or the club house.
Mathivanan was President of Colts for a record 13 years. He was unconquered at cricket elections. There is lot of talk these days about Sri Lanka Cricket should be minus of politics. But time was when even a club election wasn’t spared.
In 2014, Mathivanan was set to be reelected for another term but had to withdraw after the son of a VVIP politician requested him to not to contest the elections and thus ended his term as Colts President.
The matter didn’t go unnoticed and President Wickremesinghe, who was then the Opposition Leader lashed out for coldshouldering the veteran administrator.
At a time when cricket has suffered severe setbacks and the administration is facing allegations of corruption, a person like Mathivanan needs to be saluted for the exemplary manner with which he has carried himself and earned the respect of cricketers from all ages. His contributions to the sport will be only second to that of the great Gamini Dissanayake.
Michael Hussey may be Mr. Cricket on the playing arena but K. Mathivanan is the Mr. Cricket off the field.