Cricket business will be in full swing and its high flying ‘untouchable’ keepers up to the same old closed door dealings with the war on corruption reaching a seemingly fearful anti-climax.
Presently neither the media nor the common followers of Sri Lanka’s cricket team know what to expect other than witness the campaign to clean up a bigger than life system that offers a free run for administrators brought down to zero.
Sri Lanka Cricket the private keeper of the public property wasted no time in putting out what would have otherwise been a phased release of 12 months of international cricket business.
The 12 months of non-stop cricket that could only benefit players and connected administrators, will have the team playing in as many as 52 international matches starting in a month’s time apart from another T20 World Cup in the exotic islands of the Caribbean and America’s sunshine state of Florida.
The T20 World Cup in June will take to five, the number of World Cups connected to cricket to be held inside five years, a Guinness World Record and a manifestation of the financial returns for Sri Lanka on a scale that has no parallel past other than a present and with it the need to cling on to positions that matter.
“The 2024 calendar is expected to give our players a lot of playing opportunities, fans entertainment and our sponsors great exposure,’’ said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva.
But given the unfinished business of a cricket-corruption clean-up, the results of the matches win or lose will matter little or nothing with a free-for-all being the name of the game.
Ten Test matches, 21 ODIs and an equal number of T20 games make up the 52 matches that are guaranteed for Sri Lanka.
