Sri Lanka’s inglorious exit from the T20 World Cup in Australia was accompanied by players partying at casinos, corruption and the influence of a fake prophet, an inquiry showed yesterday.
Batsman Danushka Gunathilaka was arrested hours after Sri Lanka’s tournament ended and has been charged with four counts of sexual assault in Sydney.
An independent panel that investigated Sri Lanka’s off-field behavior during the World Cup in October and November said that there was a litany of wrongdoing among players, officials and associates.
Photo: AP
Sri Lanka, the Asian champions, were stunned by Namibia in their opening match and failed to progress to the knockout rounds after finishing fourth in their Super 12 group.
Bowler Chamika Karunaratne was involved in a brawl at a casino along with six teammates when he objected to a fellow punter taking his picture, the panel’s 63-page report said.
Karunaratne was fined and given a suspended ban last year.
Photo: AFP
Team manager Mahinda Halangoda told investigators that the players went to a casino for dinner because “all restaurants in Australia close after 8[pm] or 8:30pm” and the gambling venue offered the only food available.
The five-member panel did not agree.
It recommended that casinos be off-limits for players on overseas tours and that wives be allowed in their hotel rooms — a practice permitted until 2016 — to ensure that they do not stray out and contravene team discipline.
A former high-performance manager, Jerome Jayaratne, had no role with the team, but was sent to Melbourne for 10 days and paid US$7,000, the report said.
Jayaratne is related by marriage to the Rajapaksa family who have dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades, including the president ousted by mass protests last year.
Jayaratne contributed nothing to the team on the trip and spent time with his sister instead, the panel reported.
Former skipper Mahela Jayawardene traveled as a “consultant coach” at the cricket board’s expense, but opened a branch of his upmarket Ministry of Crab restaurant chain in Australia, the panel reported.
The investigators, led by retired Sri Lankan Supreme Court Justice Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena, called for a comprehensive audit of the Sri Lanka Cricket board and urged the sports minister to seize board documents to ensure evidence was not destroyed.
A man claiming to be a prophet had established considerable influence over some team members and key officials, the panel said, calling for a wider investigation.
Under the man’s influence, Karunaratne left an oil lamp burning in his room, despite hotel warnings of a fire hazard, it said.
There was no immediate comment from Sri Lanka Cricket, but Sri Lankan Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe said he would study the report and act on it to ensure team discipline and stamp out corruption.
The panel also called for better physical fitness among national players.
Sri Lanka yesterday were playing India in the second one-day international at Eden Gardens. At press time last night, India were on 128/4 chasing 216 to win.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father