Sri Lanka Cricket Board apologizes for inadequate crowd control measures

The third ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia was a complete sell-out. The tickets went off the counters like hot cakes. But, this good news had a dull side to it for the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC). The SLC were caught underprepared and faced problems due to inadequate crowd control measures after the spectator count swelled multifold at the venue.

The SLC today issued an apology for inadequate crowd control measures. Fans were seen climbing trees, and walls squeezing themselves in at the narrowest of places at the venue to get a glimpse of the match last night.

The national governing body revealed estimates of 45,000 fans storming into the venue which had a capacity of holding just 18,000.

There were two reasons behind this madness. The first was that that the tense contest which Australia won by 2 wickets was the first day-night ODI at the venue in six years. The other and the more important reason was yesterday’s game marked the end of Tillakaratne Dilshan ODI career after he announced his decision to retire from cricket a couple of days ago.

The crowd went into a state of pandemonium after Angelo Mathews had won the toss and elected to bat, allowing retiring Sri Lanka great Tillakaratne Dilshan to open up proceedings one last time.

A guard of honour formed by the home side met Dilshan on his way out to the middle, while each of his five boundaries in the 65-ball knock of 42 sparked wild celebrations.

Dilshan’s departure in the 19th over left fans stunned, but they all showed their appreciation as the 39-year-old bowed and gave him a standing ovation on his way back to the pavilion for the final time in the 50-over format.

“Sri Lanka Cricket sincerely wishes to announce that it regrets the inconvenience caused to the ticket holders and cricket fans who could not get to their allocated seats at yesterday’s third ODI match played in Dambulla,” the SLC media release stated.

“Having the capacity of accommodating 18,000 spectators, over 45,000 cricket fans attended the match as per the SLC security estimates.

“Therefore the security staff and the ushering teams lost the crowd control systems which was in place to assist the spectators as usual.

“Due to the above situation contingency measures were taken to protect the playing area and the two teams, which was considered as a priority for the continuation of the game.

“SLC wishes to state that it will take adequate measures to ensure that proper security and ushering will be in place for the upcoming matches and apologise once again for the inconvenience caused to our fans.”