Sri Lankan cricketers including past players have taken their grievances to President Ranil Wickremasinghe in a Probe Report compiled by a Committee set up by him to investigate the administration of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the conduct of its office-bearers.
Newly appointed Sri Lanka T20 captain Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva was one of the present cricketers to have been interviewed by the Probe Committee team headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry.
The Probe Committee was set up last November 2023 on the directions of President Wickremasinghe in the aftermath of a popular public uprising and Parliament calling for the sacking of officials running SLC who have been accused of corruption, financial abuse, nepotism and other malpractices in two previous Probe Reports one compiled by retired Supreme Court Judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena and the other an official government Audit Report.
The Probe Report includes recommendations for an overall of the administration of SLC and will be presented to Parliament which had unanimously passed a resolution to replace the current status of the sport’s administration with an Interim Committee.
It is learnt that President Wickremasinghe on receiving the Report for change had expressed his willingness to implement the proposals and recommendations in it without delay. A new Draft Bill also runs parallel for changes and SLC.
Present Sports Minister Harin Fernando as well as past Sports Ministers, national coaches involved in junior and senior coaching, team Selectors, members of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, umpires and representative from SLC’s Technical Committee made submissions to the Probe Committee.
In hindsight, the Probe Committee was a direct result of former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe leading a corruption clean-up at SLC through an Interim Committee headed by former captain Arjuna Ranatunga to replace the National administration.
