Photo Credit: Sri Lanka Cricket
The following is a response to several media reports published citing a statement made by Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga mentioning that ‘Sri Lanka Cricket has sought permission to send 7 officials on an overseas joy ride, spending millions of rupees’.
Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to inform the public that the ‘news reports,’ published quoting Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga pertaining to the organization’s seeking permission from the Ministry of Sports to send 07 officials on an overseas tour for official duties, provide a misleading picture, thus tarnishing the image of Sri Lanka Cricket and its officials.
Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that in this mentioned case, Sri Lanka Cricket has sought permission from the Ministry of Sports to send 07 Executive Committee Members to engage in official matters during the ongoing Men’s Asia Cup.
Any tours undertaken or planned to be undertaken by its Executive Committee Members are purely aimed at conducting “official work” pertaining to the development of the game of cricket in Sri Lanka and nothing else.
While being the host cricketing board for the Asia Cup 2022, the work expected to be done by these officials of SLC during the planned tour to the UAE includes: meeting and discussing bilateral cricket arrangements with the officials of the member countries; holding discussions with the Asian Cricket Council; and also meeting with the private sector representatives, who can bring in massive commercial opportunities for the game in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that with a massive Future Tours Program (FTP) in place for Sri Lanka during the years 2023 to 2027 and also several editions of the Lanka Premier League, it is essential that SLC officials start working on those tours, tournaments, and also the Lanka Premier League’s upcoming editions, and in this case, high-level international collaborations are required to ensure that we fulfill and achieve our cricketing objectives perfectly.
Executive Committee Members
Sri Lanka Cricket also wishes to emphasize here that the Executive Committee members of the SLC are serving in an honorary capacity for the betterment of the game and are not paid a salary, and they serve the game in various capacities such as’ holding chairmanship, or membership ‘in various cricket related committees or sub committees, such as’ Tour organizing, Domestic Cricket, Umpiring, Tournament Organizing, and many more.’
As a result, the Executive Committee members of Sri Lanka Cricket deserve enormous credit for the honorary services they provide to the game of cricket, and such services should be commended rather than degraded by false claims like those made by Mr. Ranatunga, as quoted in the news reports.
SLC Financing Method
Sri Lanka Cricket also wishes to announce that our organization is an independently managed entity and is engaged in financing its operations purely from the money SLC has earned through conducting international tournaments, selling team sponsorships and also selling its “Broadcasting Rights,’ and from the funds disbursed by the International Cricket Council for its full member countries.
Hence, SLC wishes to emphasize that at no point the SLC is dependent on government funds to finance its operations nor the Government of Sri Lanka incurs any expenditure in respect of administration of Cricket in Sri Lanka whereas as seen in the recent past SLC has contributed funds immensely for diversified purposes including but not limited to, for the purchase of essential medical supplies and for the Sports Development fund at the Ministry of Sports, and funds granted to be utilized for the participation at the Commonwealth Games etc.
In the said backdrop, SLC considers the statement made by Mr. Ranatunga to be false, malicious, vindictive, derogatory of SLC and has been made for collateral purposes.
Name of Author: Sri Lanka Cricket
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. Originally registered as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on June 30, 1975, it was renamed Sri Lanka Cricket in 2003.
