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Thilanga left in the lurch...
Damien attends ICC meeting in Delhi as Sports Ministry rep
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Sri Lanka Cricket is now embroiled in a brand new controversy. This is nothing new to this tiny island since it gained Test status in 1982 and especially after it won the World Cup in 1996. Now under intense pressure from the Ministry of Sports, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was forced to remove their international envoy Thilanga Sumathipala from attending the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Executive Board’s two day meeting in New Delhi earlier this week.

After receiving the 'all clear' signal from Sri Lanka Cricket's executive committee to attend the ICC Executive Board meeting Thilanga Sumathipala left for New Delhi on Tuesday. However as the Minister of Sports Jeevan Kumaratunge went ahead in nominating Damien Fernando to attend the ICC meeting, SLC held an emergency executive meeting on Wednesday morning and decided to give into the Minister's nominee and inform Thilanga Sumathipala about these developments. Accordingly the President of SLC Mohan de Silva informed the Minister of Sports of the decision and Damien Fernando left for New Delhi to attend the meeting on Wednesday night.

As a result Thilanga Sumathipala attended the meeting on Thursday morning but subsequently after lunch on the same day Sumathipala gave into Fernando who sat at the meeting as an observer. On the part of Sri Lanka Cricket and in the eyes of the ICC the events that transpired in New Delhi was disgraceful and shameful. Whatever the differences SLC and the Ministry of Sports had should have been ironed out prior to sending a nominee for the meeting.

Fernando's presence as only an observer at an important meeting is also queried since in that capacity he cannot make any contribution. This again is a waste of time and more importantly a loss to Sri Lanka Cricket.

Damien Fernando is the current nominee of the Ministry of Sports to Sri Lanka Cricket's Executive Board. Fernando who has been attached to the Sports Ministry for some time is also a close relation of Minister Kumaratunge. A former Benedictine, Damien Fernando had an illustrious school career excelling in cricket and soccer for his alma mater. Damien was also in Dubai for a long time and turned out for the Lanka Lions in the UAE with distinction. The Lanka Lions were champions in cricket tournaments held in Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi with Damien playing a major role in winning these contests.

Meanwhile the ICC in a press release on the decision taken at the two day meeting released the following statement regarding the fiasco that surrounded the Lankan nominee.

During the course of the meeting there was a change to the representative of Sri Lankan Cricket. At the start of the meeting Thilanga Sumathipala represented Sri Lanka Cricket. At the lunch break of the meeting on the first day, the ICC received correspondence from Sri Lanka Cricket indicating that Sumathipala was, in fact, no longer the representative of the board. Damian Fernando joined the meeting at the beginning of the second day of the meeting as an observer representing Sri Lanka Cricket.

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