Jayawardene takes legal advice over TV claim

Mahela Jayawardene

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Sri Lanka batsman Mahela  Jayawardene has taken legal advice over doubts raised on a  state-run TV channel about the way he and another batsman  performed in the World Cup defeat by Pakistan.
Sri Lanka, who are one of the favourites to win the  tournament, lost Saturday’s Pakistan game by 11 runs as  Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera were out for just two runs  and one run respectively when the team was trying to accelerate  the run rate against the powerful Pakistan bowling.

Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene

State-owned Independent Television Network (ITN) in an  analytical documentary aired on Sunday criticised several Sri  Lankan players including Jayawardene and Samaraweera for their  poor performance.
Jayawardene when asked about the allegations before the  Kenya match said he had consulted his lawyers over the matter.
“The lawyers will decide what proper course of action should  be taken,” he told Reuters.
ITN also accused a businessman of betting 2 million rupees  ($18,053) on Pakistan’s victory without giving any further  details.
“We are treating the matter seriously,” said Nishantha  Ranatunga, the secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket.
In a statement, Sri Lanka Cricket later condemned the  programme for “carrying a story that is baseless and thereby  demoralising our players during the ongoing World Cup”.
“Sri Lanka Cricket will be taking this matter up with the  relevant authorities of this channel, based on the fact that  this channel has brought great distress to two of our national  cricketers who have served Sri Lanka Cricket with honour and  dignity throughout their illustrious careers so far.”
The ITN in its ‘Vimasuma’ (inquiry) programme accused both  Jayawardene and Samaraweera of changing the game, which  otherwise Sri Lanka would have won.
“We are now in second thoughts whether Mahela and Thilan  actually ‘changed the game’,” the narrator of the programme  said, adding that if both had scored 30 runs together, Sri Lanka  would have won.
Compared to other Asian neighbours, the 1996 World Cup  champions have been relatively free from corruption and  match-fixing scandals.
“People who make such allegations should be careful of what  they say unless they have sufficient proof,” Sri Lanka’s team  Anura Tennekoon told Reuters.
Last month, three Pakistan players were banned for a minimum  of five years over allegations that they deliberately bowled  no-balls (spot-fixing) against England last August.
That case has now been taken to sport’s highest court of  appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The game’s governing body, the International Cricket Council  (ICC), told Reuters today that each of the 49 matches at  the World Cup were “to some extent” scrutinised by an  anti-corruption unit.
A spokesman explained that unless the unit, which keeps its  deliberations secret, planned action against a team or  individual then the ICC itself would not be informed.
Also today, an agency story suggesting that Australia  were under investigation for slow scoring in a win against  Zimbabwe was dismissed by team officials as “laughable”.
The ICC told Reuters they had heard nothing suggesting  anything untoward.