Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) vice president Jayantha Dharmadasa’s proposed President’s 50 Over Tournament, which was planned to conduct from 14th to 20th October 2020, was Yesterday (October 6) postponed indefinitely, due to the current Covid-19 situation.
The four teams, which were to play in the tournament was to be skippered, by Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun Shanaka, and Dimuth Karunaratne. Each squad consisted of National players and promising First Class Cricketers. Each team was scheduled to play 03-games, before reaching the ‘Play-Off’ stage and the Finals.
SLC, in a statement, claimed that the tournament was initiated following the recommendations given by Dharmadasa, who was politically inserted at the Maitland Place in the last week of July, replacing K. Mathivanan, one of the most honest and popular administartor in Sri Lanka Cricket. Since last three months, Dharmadasa was non-existent! Even when other top SLC officials were trying their best to go ahead with Bangladesh series with several rounds of meetings with concerned government authorities, Dharmadasa was focusing on refurbishment. Now, he suddenly came with ill timed President’s 50 Over Tournament.
“The idea of this tournament was mooted, as we understood the need for our players to engage in some form of competitive cricket, as the national players haven’t played at the highest level, since the covid-19 pandemic occurred,’’ SLC media release reads.
“However, with the current situation, SLC decided to postpone the tournament, until the environment becomes favorable to play cricket,’’ it reads further.
Just a week ago, Bangladesh’s three-Test tour of Sri Lanka was also postponed indefinitely, following a stalemate between the BCB and SLC over quarantine requirements, with weeks of negotiation failing to yield an agreement between the two boards.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka has already lost out on hosting a couple of high-profile cricket series. In March, England’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka was postponed after the ECB requested for it due to the growing threat of the virus. Last week, India’s tour of Sri Lanka was also called off, an assignment that should have seen India played three ODIs and three T20Is starting June end and continuing till July.
