Only three months ago, Sri Lanka were battling it out with India in the World Cup final but they have since gone from controversy to scandal to full-blown crisis in an astounding fall from grace. After losing the Mumbai showpiece, Sri Lanka have unravelled in spectacular fashion, hit by resignations, match-fixing claims and a doping scandal, plus financial woes and a rocky start for their new Twenty20 league.
Trademark political turmoil, an undermining factor for years, has also come to a head after the International Cricket Council (ICC) banned governments from meddling in the sport, a stance strongly backed by ex-captain Kumar Sangakkara. This week Sangakkara, who led Sri Lanka to the World Cup final before resigning, dropped a bombshell when he described the country’s administrators as corrupt and politicised in a landmark speech at Lord’s.
Sangakkara, 33, said players were sucked into the petty power struggles of politically appointed board members that led to “rift, ill-feeling and distrust” among team members. Successive boards have been accused of corruption since Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup and drew a huge inflow of cash into the game, but Sangakkara’s remarks for the first time acknowledged debilitating divisions within the team.
“The instability of our administration is a huge stumbling block to the rapid face-change that we need (in the national team),” said Sangakkara, whose speech received a standing ovation at the home of cricket. Sri Lanka’s sports authorities responded by ordering an investigation into Sangakkara’s comments, but many fans and newspapers in the country have come to his defence.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka Cricket admitted it had badly overspent during its co-hosting of the World Cup, leading to claims of financial mismanagement and ensuring a difficult debut for the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL). The body said it had been forced to scale down the SLPL, which was intended as a copy of the brash Indian Premier League (IPL) but will now go ahead with hardly any international stars due to funding constraints.
