Former Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) President Thilanga Sumathipala has called for his supporters meeting on Saturday (February 6) to make the strategy for the forthcoming board election, Cricket Age reliably learns.
Earlier today, Cricket Age had published that the much awaited SLC election to take place on May 20.
In 2019, Sumathipala was banned from holding office at Maitland Place by then Sports Minister Harin Fernando, following the International Cricket Council (ICC) explosive revelations about his involvement in betting and gambling. Later, due to his continues manipulative acts, incumbent SLC President Shammi Silva also parted ways with Sumathipala.
However, regardless of the fact that he has completely lost his grip over the Maitland Place, Sumathipala still dreams of controlling the SLC from Punchi Borella.
“He has asked all his supporters to attend the meeting on Saturday to make a strategy for the next SLC election” an insider at Punchi Borella told Cricket Age.
According to sources, Sumathipala, who knows that his game is over, is now trying to create fractions within the Shammi Silva led administration, as well as in other camps.
“He wants to show that he still hold the control over clubs, which is not true. Only a handful of clubs supports him and on that basis, he wants to play a kingmaker role” an expert on Sri Lanka cricket told Cricket Age.
However, none of the camp has shown willingness in associating with Sumathipala. Cricket Age understands that Shammi Silva has already finalized his team for the forthcoming election – comprising of Ravin Wickramaratne (VP, Domestic Cricket), Jayantha Dharmadasa (VP, International Cricket) and Mohan De Silva (Secretary). And it’s almost certain that the other camp will also not be associating with Sumathipala.
“He is not relevant in Sri Lanka cricket anymore. Just to show his worth to his handful of supporters, he is trying these tricks. He just wants to make fractions within other camps and thus doing his usual gimmick” the Sri Lanka cricket expert added.
