Cricket followers in Hambantota are contemplating taking officials of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to the International Cricket Council (ICC) after some of them were assaulted by police and prevented from entering the venue for the second ODI against the West Indies despite possessing valid tickets.
Hundreds of fans were either assaulted or blocked from entering the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium on Wednesday evening as officials manning the entrances could not cope up with the massive influx made worse by Sri Lanka Cricket’s failure to read the teeming numbers of the game’s followers as they printed a lesser number of tickets.
“We only wanted to cheer our team as we always do, but we were treated like criminals and the ICC must be told of how cricket officials in this country administer the game. It was sickening,” a fan who identified himself as a 23-year old chicken farmer named Ajith told the Sunday Observer.
On Thursday Sri Lanka Cricket officials came under media fire for causing the situation as its head Shammi Silva apologized saying they did not anticipate a heavy turn-out of fans.
Due to national politics, forested Hambantota staged its first international contest in four years and thousands of the game’s followers are made to walk miles to get to their homes in the dead of night often passing elephant corridors after a match.
(CD)