Duleep Mendis

The ICC has urged the 2011 World Cup organizing committee to expedite work on the tournament that is scheduled to take place in the Indian Sub-continent. The ICC is concerned that the preparations for this is ten months behind schedule.

However Sri Lanka Cricket does not seem to be much perturbed on this development. Though interim Committee member Guy de Alwis attended the Organizing Committee Meeting which was held in Mumbai on November 3, it is still to receive an official report on what transpired at the meeting.

When inquired CEO Sri Lanka Cricket Duleep Mendis said “We are still to receive any report from Mr. de Alwis on what transpired at the meeting”. Meanwhile when Wijeya newspapers posed the same question to Guy de Alwis, he said “It was only an initial meeting and nothing important was discussed. The main issues on the tournament would only be taken up after January 2009.”

It was also revealed that de Alwis had made this trip without the approval of the SLC Interim Committee. At the IC meeting it was agreed that either the SLC secretary K. Mathivanan or SLC CEO Duleep Mendis should attend the meeting, but, de Alwis had made the trip only with the blessings of IC Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga.

It is interesting to note that an cricinfo article dated 3rd November read “The World Cup planning meeting will be held tomorrow where N Srinivasan (BCCI secretary), Saleem Altaf (PCB director general), Nizamuddin Chowdhury (chief executive Bangladesh) and Duleep Mendis (chief executive of SLC) will discuss various preparational issues along with Haroon Lorgat, ICC chief executive," an ICC spokesperson told Cricinfo. Campbell Jamieson (general manager-commercial) and IS Bindra (principal advisor to the chief executive) will be the two other ICC officials attending.”