Sri Lanka Cricket has justified a decision to authorize seven of its officials to attend proceedings of the on-going Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and defended itself against accusations made by former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga that the trip was an “overseas joy ride spending millions of rupees.”
Sri Lanka Cricket said Ranatunga’s accusations were “misleading and tarnishing the image of Sri Lanka Cricket and its officials.”
“Sri Lanka Cricket has sought permission from the Ministry of Sports to send seven 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.
“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,” SLC said in a statement.
Ranatunga made the accusations against SLC when he visited the head priest of the Asgiriya temple in Kandy.
Ranatunga is the new head of the policy-making and high powered advisory body called the National Sports Council (NSC) and said he was determined to fight corruption.
Remarking that a corruption-tainted voting system was preventing ‘respectable people’ from running the affairs of cricket, Ranatunga said the selection process of players will be investigated besides the reasons for shifting the Asia Cup from Sri Lanka to the UAE that SLC said was done to avoid the unstable political, economic and essential services situation in the country.