SLC punished all players because of lack of evidence in first-class game fiasco

A seven-month inquiry on the first class game between Panadura Sports Club and Kalutara Physical Culture Club could not pinpoint the person who wanted to manipulate the result of the game. The SLC ended up giving harsh punishments to every player involved in the concerned match.

Skippers Chamara Silva, who was the only player involved in the game to have represented Sri Lanka, and Manoj Deshapriya have been handed with two year bans while the rest of the players faced a year ban. There is no clarity yet on the person who prompted the players to do so.

“We can’t pinpoint it was this person or that person who made the decision,” chief inquirer Asela Rekawa said. “We didn’t get any evidence to support that. That’s why we had to punish more generally – even the captain, coach, we had to punish.”

The SLC claims that it provided the concerned players a number of opportunities to defend themselves but only a handful realized those opportunities while most of them kept away from the inquiry hearings. Another strange outcome of the fiasco is that Silva, who was handed a 2-year ban, didn’t take the field on the final day, the day where Panadura knocked off the target of 167 within 14 overs. The question remains that if Silva wasn’t around then why was he penalized?

Silva did not take field, may have been present at venue

Rekawa defended the move by saying that there is no evidence if Silva wasn’t at the venue when the chase was on its way and the spirit of the game might have been tarnished in the entire three days of the game.

“In terms of the documentation provided, it was very clear that [Silva] was not present on the last day. But there was no suggestion that Mr. Chamara Silva was not there at the [venue] premises. So there was no defense taken that he was not there and he didn’t know anything about [the decision to manipulate the result]. He was in the same category as the other players. He didn’t come [to the inquiry] in person. No lawyer appeared for him to suggest he was taking up a different position.

“In fact, only over the last two days, after the media had begun to discuss Silva’s absence, did I find out about his stomach ailment. It wasn’t much of a concern for us as we were not only concerned about the third day.”

Rekawa conceded that SLC’s decision to ban the players might get challenged by any of the players.