On Thursday, Sri Lanka Cricket found itself in turmoil after Former Captain and Legendary Batsman Mahela Jayawardene Summarized the ‘Pathetic Situation at SLC in last two years’ In a just few line tweet.
On June 13, A day before All-Important Court Hearing Against Thilanga Sumathipala on a case filed by former secretary Nishantha Ranatunga, SLC and Sports Minister Made a public appeal to Country’s finest cricketers – Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda De Silva, Roshan Mahanama and Muttiah Muralitharan – To Join a consultant Committee.
The Idea was to put all of them into a committee on consultancy basis to get their advice on Cricket related matters.
However, only few hours later, Mahela Jayawardene not only refused the idea, he also Completely exposed SLC’ motive behind this.
“With all due respect to the selectors & the sports minister i have spent 1 year in the cricket committee & 6 months in a special advisory committee & no recomendations were implimented. I dont have any trust in the system. If any one wants to buy time please dont use us!” he wrote on his twitter handle.
The tweet had an immediate impact! It created a havoc! within few hours, it became the talking point in entire Cricket fraternity.
However, Cricket Age has the ‘Exclusive Insides’ On this saga, that proves it was a well planned conspiracy to defame the names of those Legendary Cricketers. SLC CEO Ashley De Silva and Chief Selector Graeme Labrooy were the mastermind behind this conspiracy.
According to sources, Labrooy Approached Ashley De Silva with this proposal to invite legends as consultant. Ashley, who is worldwide famous for his comical comments on most serious cricketing issues, ran to the Sports Minister Faizer Mustapha and convinced him for the proposal.
However, in order to keep Mustapha in dark, Ashley hide a very important fact with the minister. According to sources, when Mustapha inquired with Ashley whether he talked to those legends about the proposal and are they agree, Ashley told a lie by stating that all the players are agree.
Only after that, Mustapha Approved the proposal. Not only this, being a straight forward and honest person, Mustapha completely believed on Ashley and announced on national TV Channels as well that all the legends are agree to accept his invitation.
However, just within few hours, Mahela Jayawardene’s tweet punctured the entire plot of Ashley and Labrooy.
Moreover, the motive behind this conspiracy was much more serious. According to sources, Ashley Managed to convince Mustapha that even if legends wouldn’t accept the proposal, it will raise questions against them, not against Minister and SLC.
By doing so, Ashley wanted to show die hard Sri Lankan fans that ‘all is well’ within the SLC. His intentions were to hoodwink fans that all the legends are with SLC. He wanted to Mislead the fans that SLC is ready to welcome those legends.
The truth, as Mahela referred in his tweet as well, however, is that SLC used the legendary status of those cricketers big time in past. As Mahela mentioned, former Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara invited him and Kumar Sangakkara to make constitutional changes. Almost ten months on, the outcome of those sincere efforts my Mahela and Sangakkara couldn’t be implemented.
Another interesting thing about this entire Saga is that former President Thilanga Sumathipala was completely unaware about the conspiracy. It was a well planned conspiracy, plotted only by Ashley De Silva and Graeme Labrooy to defame legendary cricketers.
And this Conspiracy raises serious questions against Ashley De Silva! Does he deserves to be the CEO of SLC with this sort of ill mentality?
Even though the idea was given by Labrooy, it was Ashley’s Responsibility to take this sensitive issue in appropriate manner! In first place, he should have guided the minister better knowing the past situation, instead of keeping him in dark and telling lie. He must also have talked to those legends to confirm their interest, before taking it to the minister.
However, he didn’t follow those routes. Instead, in an attempt to hoodwink cricket loving public, he put Sports Minister in an embarrassing position! In last two months, Mustapha established himself as a Trustworthy Sports Minister, who thinks for the betterment of the game. In just one attempt, Ashley De Silva and Graeme Labrooy made him a laughing stock!
