Top Spin By Suni

May 16th 2016
While it may not necessarily be a conspiracy as spme theorists seem to think! although there are suspicious undertones towards, this considering the calibre of the player involved and the implications it had on the overall picture of Sri Lanka cricket in the  face of important forthcoming competitions  albeit with no tangible proof,  the Kusal Perera  incident stinks of incompetency on the part of the ICC who should hang its head in shame

The ICC is now trying to shrug off responsibilities and liability to compensate for the grievous harm to this young and upcoming, talented Sri Lanka cricketer who has suffered both psychologically and career wise as a result of what seems to be bungling at ICC level.
That he needs to be fully compensated and more for his ordeal seems to be an understatement as he has borne it all with dignity and hopefully his rewards for the class he has shown will be great as he resumes and continues his cricketing career where all Sri Lankan followers of the gentleman’s game should wish him well!

Many including former greats like Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and others have questioned the  validity of the decision which banned Kusal from the game for ( mercifully ) six moths which included the draconian attitude of guilty until proven innocent – a rank disregard for the democratic values the game is supposed to carry in the world of today- yet disregarded by the ICC as he was even banned from  net practise as the saga rolled on  with the outcome that was to prove the inefficiency of the ICC.

It must also be mentioned that the President of Sri Lanka cricket Thilanga Sumathipala and the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga and other former cricketing greats of yester year have worked tirelessly towards the restoration of Kusals dignity for which thanks are in due order.

The ICC it needs to be remembered has many bourgeoisie Indians at the helm who make obnoxious decisions who seem to lean in India’s favour at the best and worst of times and dance to the tunes of the Indian cricket administration – a prime example being the manner in which India is exempt from the DRS system when all others comply as India needs to be taken down a peg or two and reminded that there should be no double standards when it comes to rules and regulations and the DRS rule made mandatory  for all.

The ICC seems hard handed also when it comes to players of Asian and lesser known countries playing cricket as they hand out their sentences laced in double standards remembering how Australian cricketer Shane Warne during his playing days despite being proven guilty of using a banned substance, got away virtually scot free by comparison with Kusal Perera and there are other cases that seem to prove this case in point while raising eyebrows about the justification of certain decision!

Perhaps it is high time the ICC revamped its policies towards international cricket to incorporate  fairness and equality towards all in a measure to make cricket indeed a gentleman’s game not shrouded in perverse skullduggery, mismanagement  and corruption as it appears and similar to the governing body of soccer FIFA which has truly fallen from grace as the world looks on!

SLC’s executive committee has not made a firm decision yet on further legal action in the Kusal Perera case © AFP The ICC has denied that Sri Lanka Cricket had asked that the costs involved in the Kusal Perera doping case be reimbursed, and it said it had not agreed to compensate the board. Hours before the ICC’s denial, a SLC official claimed the ICC had said verbally that it would compensate the board.
“The ICC can confirm that it has not received any request for compensation from SLC or Mr Perera and it has not agreed (verbally or otherwise) to any such reimbursement,” the ICC said. “Whilst the circumstances of this case are unfortunate, the ICC does not accept that it is responsible for the finding of the WADA-accredited Qatar Laboratory or the consequences that flowed from such a finding, and the ICC will be considering its own position in respect of who should bear the costs incurred by the ICC in its additional efforts and investigation that ultimately resulted in the Laboratory agreeing to withdraw the original finding.”
The statement contradicted SLC secretary Mohan de Silva, who had said: “The ICC has agreed to compensate us, but there is nothing in writing. In any case we will be making an appeal for that. I’m quite confident that they will oblige us.”
SLC had said it spent over 13 million Sri Lankan rupees (USD $92,000 approx) on clearing Perera’s name, though they did not quite need the 15 million they had set aside to fight the case.
In addition to fees paid to Perera’s UK-based lawyers Morgan Sports Law, SLC also helped fund a polygraph test and separate urine test conducted in London, as well as a hair analysis conducted in a Paris lab. Each of these measures is said to have helped give Perera leverage with the ICC.
Perera himself suggested he was not dwelling on the suspension’s personal cost to him, but board president Thilanga Sumathipala said the “indirect cost” to Perera had been “colossal”. In addition to missing a full tour of New Zealand, a bilateral series against India, and two major tournaments in the Asia Cup and World T20, Perera was also ineligible for the IPL auction. He had been fixture in all three formats for Sri Lanka prior to the suspension.
SLC’s executive committee had not made a firm decision on further legal action, but de Silva confirmed discussions were ongoing in the board about “how to compensate Kusal”.
The Qatar-based lab, whose findings were deemed “unsustainable” for “scientific and technical reasons” by the independent expert hired by the ICC, may come under scrutiny. However, that expert had also stated the lab had “correctly identified 19-Norandrostenedione in the samples” taken from Perera.
Perera has resumed his training with SLC coaches at Khettarama, after five months of being barred from doing so. He may be in the fray for the limited-overs leg of Sri Lanka’s tour of the UK and Ireland.