Our hands are clean says SLC Chief

Responding to criticism that Sri Lanka Cricket Executive Committee members had utilized boards’ funds to purchase air tickets for family members and actresses, SLC President Shammi Silva squashed allegations as totally false and baseless.

Last week Opposition MP Hesha Withanage had alleged that a sum of over 67 million had been spent to purchase air tickets for family members and friends of SLC Ex-Co members.

However, Shammi Silva said that only the airfare of the Ex-Co-member had been paid for by the board. He further clarified that for others the board had only issued letters to the Australian High Commission for the purpose of obtaining visa.

“Our accounts are clean. If anyone proves that we have misused the board’s funds to take our family members or outsiders for the World Cup, we will resign the next day,” Silva told journalists at a media briefing held at SSC yesterday.

“There are lots of people who can’t stand the progress we have made. There are those who know that the board has a financial surplus and want to regain power and enjoy the perks. They are cooking up lies to tarnish our image,” Silva went onto say.

Further elaborating on the progress SLC has made, the board President said that over the next three years a lot of international events will take place in the country including the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2024 and the T-20 World Cup in 2026.

Sri Lanka will also be the neutral venue for the Afghanistan – Pakistan series scheduled for next month. There will also be ICC meetings taking place in the country. The biggest announcement from the press conference was that BCCI had confirmed two bilateral tours outside the Future Tours Program (FTP) which will give Sri Lanka a financial windfall.

“The 2026 T-20 World Cup we could have hosted on our own. But we did not have a fifth venue with floodlights and we had to share the event with India. We wanted to put up an international venue in Diyagama and you all know how people put objections for this. There are individuals who are hindering the progress of the game,” Silva went onto add.

SLC also revealed plans to make women’s cricket professional and all major leading cricket playing clubs like SSC, NCC, CCC, Colts and Tamil Union will have women’s teams that will feature in annual white ball tournaments conducted by SLC.

There are also moves to develop schools and club cricket while the LPL is making steady progress.

“Our target was to have a fixed deposit of US$ 35 million and we have achieved that. Our next aim is to improve it to US$ 50 million and further take it to US$ 70 million. Financially, we are more stable than New Zealand, I am glad to say,” Silva added.