Chinthaka Jayanath and Jagath Jayasundara – assistant manager domestic cricket and transport coordinator respectively at Sri Lanka’s Cricket (SLC) – have found to be involved in the now scraped Non-affiliated PDC league, Cricket Age reliably learns.
The league was announced in the third week of June, stating that it would be starting on June 25. The unknown organizers of the 12-day-long tournament, which was said to be played at the historic and world heritage site Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, had even claimed that former cricketers including the likes of Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Kulasekara, Asela Gunarathna, Dhammika Prasad, Sachithra Senanayake, Chamara Kapugedra, Thilan Thushara and Ishara Amerasinghe would be playing in the league.
However, on June 23, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced that none of the contracted players of the SLC have sought permission to take part in the League. The SLC further declared that the said T10 League is not endorsed by the cricket board.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that none of the contracted players of the board have sought permission to take part in a contest PDC T10 League nor Sri Lanka Cricket has endorsed a tournament called PDC T10 League” SLC said in a media statement.
When investigated, Cricket Age learnt that both Jayanath and Jayasundara were actively involved in the PDG league along with the main mastermind Alex Nishantha, who was associated with Sri Lanka cricket in past as one of the district coach and was talking to majority of former players and was approaching them to play in the league, on the behalf of some unknown Indians.
It has also learnt that the SLC top brass had also some suspicion about both them, that led the board to take a decision to not involve them in the preparation of the upcoming Lanka Premier League (LPL).
“A directive was given to the Head of Domestic Cricket Chinthaka Edirimanne to not involve Jayanath in the LPL preparation, after receiving some complaint about him” a top SLC official told Cricket Age.
Jayanath, a controversial figure in Sri Lanka cricket, was taken in police custody in 2015 for cheating women’s, taking money from them by promising them to give job in South Korea.
The SLC has already lodge a complaint to the concerned authorities against suspicious PDC league and is taking the appropriate action.
