Sri Lanka’s disappointing campaign in the ODI World Cup 2023 has triggered a massive uproar back home. The Lankans recorded their worst World Cup performance since 1992, winning only two of their nine games. In the aftermath of their disastrous show against India – 55 all-out, the sports minister of the island nation fired the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which was then reinstated by the court of appeal, thus further deepening the crisis.
As the Sri Lankan cricket team returned home early Friday morning, chief selector Pramodaya Wickramasinghe alleged that Sri Lanka’s disastrous show at the ongoing ODI World Cup was a result ‘of a conspiracy from outside’.
Follow all the action from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 including the World Cup schedule, World Cup 2023 results, and ICC Cricket World Cup points table. Players are vying to top the World Cup 2023 Most Runs and World Cup 2023 Most Wickets charts.
Pressed for reasons for the poor performance, Wickramasingha, a member of the World Cup-winning 1996 team, said, “Give me two days to disclose everything about it. This was the result of a conspiracy from outside.”
“It is very sad, I am taking responsibility,” he told reporters at the airport.
Sri Lanka suffered a 5-wicket loss to New Zealand, ending their horrendous World Cup campaign on Thursday in Bengaluru. The 1996 world champions were marred by a series of injuries, warranting replacements outside the original squad. That even led to a change of captaincy mid-tournament.
On Thursday, a joint government and opposition resolution in parliament demanded the resignation of the SLC’s management.
The government, which is split over the minister’s decision to sack the SLC board of management, came out with a report, recommending a brand new constitution for the governing body with a new voting structure to appoint office bearers.
Lack of consistency hurt Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood addressed the presser after his team’s 5-wicket loss to New Zealand. He admitted the unit wasn’t consistent in the tournament, leading to an untimely exit.
“I think inconsistency. I think it would be fair to use that word. I think we’ve played some good cricket along the way, and I think we’ll look back on certain games and rue missed opportunities, to be honest.
“There has been certain games during this campaign that if we’d have taken the opportunities that were put our way, this could have looked a lot different. But the fact is that we have been inconsistent and it’s something that we’ve been working on for a long time and something we need to continue working on. So, yeah, I think inconsistent is a word we can use,” he added.
(With PTI Inputs)
Comments
0 comment