Sri Lanka is likely to be hit with an International Cricket Council (ICC) sanction after refusing to face the media following their World Cup defeat against Australia on Saturday.
Dimuth Karunaratne’s side was beaten by 87 runs at the Oval, leaving their hopes of reaching to the semi-finals hanging by a slender thread.
Captain Karunaratne and other Sri Lankan players were due to face the press after the match in a media conference and ‘mixed zone’. But they refused to attend the press conference and now are liable to face action from the organizers of the tournament.
When asked if Sri Lanka would face any sanction, an ICC spokesman told reporters: “Yes. Sri Lanka has told us they don’t want to do it. The ICC will be speaking to them.”
Sri Lanka’s refusal to address the media has come in just days after their team manager Ashantha de Mel slammed the ICC’s treatment of the squad.
De Mel blasted the organizers for the quality of pitches, practice facilities, transport and accommodation Sri Lanka is getting at the World Cup.
“This is a World Cup where the top ten countries are taking part and I feel that all the participants should be treated equally,” de Mel was quoted as saying by the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily News.
De Mel also slammed the net facilities at Cardiff as “unsatisfactory” and the squad’s hotel in Bristol, which lacked a swimming pool.
“Instead of three nets they gave us only two, and the hotel we were put up at Bristol did not have a swimming pool, which is very essential for every team – for the fast bowlers, especially, to relax their muscles after practice.”
“The hotels that Pakistan and Bangladesh were put up at Bristol had swimming pools.”
-Agencies
