Sri Lankan Government to probe into scandalous behavior of its cricket team

Sri Lankan sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara has said his country’s cricket team engaged in “scandalous behavior” during their tour of New Zealand. Those accused will face an investigation Jayasekara said, revealing he has photos of the players at all-night parties before matches against New Zealand. He speculated that the alleged partying contributed to their poor showing on tour.

“There was scandalous behaviour … they have not only attended drinking parties till three and four in the morning, but there was a lot of tension and friction among the members. When they return, I want to call the team and along with Thilanga [Sumathipala, the new Sri Lanka Cricket president] try to find out what happened.My main concern is the breakdown in discipline. When that is affected, the team naturally performs badly,” Jayasekara was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

Sri Lanka lost the Test, one-day and Twenty20 series to New Zealand with Jayasekera suggesting the squad lacked harmony. The sports minister said he intended to have skipper Angelo Mathews, national team manager Jeryl Woutersz and chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardane attend a “please explain” meeting as talk swirled around the team over their behaviour on tour. The Sri Lankan team left Auckland on Tuesday and a press conference is scheduled for late Wednesday (AEDT) in Colombo.

Hotels were the Sri Lankans stayed during their test and limited overs tour reported no issues with their behaviour. A spokesperson for the Scenic Circle hotel in Dunedin, where Sri Lanka stayed during the first test in December added: “I guess you’re barking up the wrong tree. When we have teams stay, it is confidential. No one’s going to be commenting on that.”

Sri Lanka were booked in at the Rutherford Hotel in Nelson for ODIs on New Year’s Eve and January 2 and a staff member was surprised by the allegations. “I haven’t heard anything about misbehaving. They were very well behaved,” she said. The reaction from hotels were the Sri Lankans stayed was not surprising as players and management regularly mix with members of the ex-pat community when they are on tour and spend time at private houses to so they can reconnect with home.

Jayasekera, meanwhile also stated that appointing a new long-term coach was a priority. Marvan Atapattu quit as coach late last year – Jerome Jayaratne was appointed in the interim and oversaw a series win over the West Indies late last year before the team headed to New Zealand, his last assignment. Sri Lanka has had seven coaches in the last five years.