Sri Lanka cricket cleared of corruption: Board
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Cricket said yesterday the sport’s global governing body had found no evidence of wrongdoing following allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption. The board said the International Cricket Council had failed to uncover evidence of graft during an investigation into explosive accusations levelled by former Sri Lankan players.
SLC chief executive Ashley de Silva said ICC anticorruption investigators visited the island in September and conducted a wide-ranging inquiry. “They do not put out statements after an inquiry, but if there is anything adverse, they would inform us. To date, they have not told us of anything (against Sri Lankan players or officials),” de Silva told reporters.
There was no immediate comment from the ICC. The council’s announcement in September that it had began an inquiry followed corruption allegations by former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and ex-player and national selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe.
SLC said its executive committee had directed players and staff to cooperate with the ICC’s probe. Ranatunga, who captained the islanders during their 1996 World Cup win, has alleged that insider meddling cost Sri Lanka a repeat tournament crown during the 2011 final against India. Ranatunga, now a government minister, alleged that unusual changes were made to the team before the final which Sri Lanka lost by six wickets. Similar allegations of “unnatural match patterns” and queries over player selection were made by Wickremasinghe.
The ICC announced the probe a day after SLC said that 40 contracted national team players had asked for an immediate inquiry into “shocking” allegations by Wickremasinghe. Sri Lanka cricket board president Thilanga Sumathipala said it was “very unfair” for such allegations to be made without any evidence, adding the ICC had found no proof of foul play.
Meanwhile, all-rounder Angelo Mathews has been appointed Sri Lanka’s limited-overs skipper six months after relinquishing the captaincy across all three formats. The 30-year-old stepped down as captain last year after Sri Lanka’s shock home defeat to Zimbabwe, which he described as “one of the lowest points” of his career. Dinesh Chandimal was named the new test captain, while Upul Tharanga was put in charge of the limited overs side. Tharanga was then striped of the captaincy after a string of defeats and replaced by Thisara Perera, who oversaw the team’s 2-1 loss in India last month, on a temporary basis. “When I stepped down I never thought of taking over the captaincy again,” Mathews, who is expected to lead the side into the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, told reporters yesterday. “I took a few a few days to think about it, and because of a few reasons I decided to accept it.” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said Mathews was given the job “on a long term basis” after he agreed to board president Thilanga Sumathipala’s request to shoulder the responsibility. “We need stability running into the World Cup,” said Mathews, who will begin the new phase of his captaincy in a tri-series in Bangladesh that also involves Zimbabwe later this month.