WOMEN’S CRICKET SEX SCANDAL GETS BIGGER
National player confirms approaches, parliament orders serious inquiry
The Sri Lanka women’s cricket sex scandal took another sensational turn yesterday as a senior national player had told a Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) fact finding committee that a national selector made her several sexual approaches which she resisted and later she was suddenly dropped from the national team which made it obvious to her that her axing had a direct connection to her refusal to comply with the selector’s advances, sources told “Daily Mirror”.
SLC executive committee had on Tuesday decided at an emergency exco meeting to appoint a fourmember committee to investigate the allegations of sexual approaches by members of national team management and national selectors to the players.
A local news report had claimed that players had to fulfil the alleged sexual demands of team management and national selectors if they were to be picked for national team and then keep their places.
The committee was to meet yesterday but amidst growing calls for the inquiry to be conducted by an independent panel and not SLC exco members themselves, the planned preliminary investigation had been handed over to a different four-member panel that included of SLC Chief Executive Ashley de Silva, SLC Head of Cricket Operations Carlton Bernardus and SLC Human Resources Manager Lasitha Mendis.
The fact-finding committee had first interviewed the national selectors and then the team management and sources said that all of them had called strongly for a full-scale investigation claiming that their names have been tarnished by the allegations published in media and they were eager to clear their names.
The committee had then interviewed five senior players of the national team and one player who had been dropped from the side during the recent South Africa series played in Sri Lanka had confessed that she had resisted constant approaches from one particular selector and her axing from the team had co-incided with her being dropped from the side.
The other players had also made similar remarks, though not so strongly, sources added. Sources said that there was no allegations sexual approaches against any other selectors or any other officials though all five players have claimed that the manager had habitually been under the influence of liquor most of the time. SLC will now have to launch a full-scale independent investigation into the issue, on the strength of yesterday’s fact finding mission.
Interestingly, an independent inquiry over the allegations had also been ordered by parliament yesterday on SLC after a discussion that came as the result of an adjournment question raised by UNP MP Ajith P. Perera.
Meanwhile, Chairman of men’s national selectors Sanath Jayasuriya who was to be a member of the original probe panel said yesterday that he did not attend the inquiry as he felt an independent panel should investigate the matter considering the serious nature of the allegations.
“I informed SLC that it was not right for us to get involved in it as it is best that an independent panel should make the inquiry as the allegations had been of rather serious nature” Jayasuriya told “Daily Mirror” last night.