Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been shaken up by social media reports that it is destined for “bankruptcy in nine months time” and in reaction claims the allegations are “untrue, unfounded and malicious aimed at damaging the reputation of Sri Lanka Cricket and the morale of the team at the World Cup.”
Striking back at the reports, SLC has accused an unnamed Indian website of running what it called “gossip”.
One of the reports stated that as many as 37 of SLC’s close supporters belonging to various affiliated organisations with voting rights have been granted free return air tickets to witness the World Cup in England and Wales.
But SLC claims that only match tickets have been provided to its membership as well as officials of its Executive Committee.
“The said Stakeholders will be travelling to the UK at their own expense whilst a limited number of Executive Committee members will be travelling to the UK on airline tickets obtained FOC on sponsorship privileges,” SLC said in a statement.
But the claim of “bankruptcy” is what has hit SLC the hardest and its treasurer Lasantha Wickremasinghe said they had overcome all financial nightmares.
“SLC is certainly not heading toward bankruptcy, it is true there had been a drop in income when compared to last year, however we have a healthy financial picture and the Committee is always engaged in improving this further, so there is no truth in the allegations that SLC is heading toward bankruptcy,” Wickramasinghe said in a statement.
Cricket officials and their close aides jostling for rides to World Cups are not unusual and is a continuation of the political game irrespective of who runs the sport’s affairs.
SLC president Shammi Silva shot back claiming they took over an administration that was anything but financially sound.
“As President of SLC I can state with responsibility that there is no financial issues in the organization. I and my Committee have ensured complete transparency and financial accountability in all our decisions over the past three and half months and although the financial picture was not as good as it should have been when we took over in February (2019) we have streamlined and prioritized our development and other expenses and I can assure you that we have no financial issues whatsoever. This is merely the attempts of interested parties to destabilize the administration and demotivate our team,” said Silva.