SLC to donate entire proceeds of ticket sales to country’s people

Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Mohan de Silva (second left) flanked by Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne, CEO Ashley de Silva and ODI and T20I captain Dasun Shanaka at the media conference held at Cinnamon Grand yesterday.

Sri Lanka Cricket has taken a decision to donate the entire proceeds of the ticket sales of Australia’s cricket tour of Sri Lanka to the benefit of the people in the country.

“We are aware of the hardships faced by the people and their mentality but they must also realise how important this tour is for the sake of the country to come out of this situation and salvage it at a crucial moment like this,” Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Mohan de Silva said.

“We are grateful to the Minister of Sports who has been very supportive and is extending his utmost support and co-operation to ensure that we conduct this tour without any hindrance.”

De Silva pointed out that the tour by Australia is not only important for Sri Lanka Cricket, but it is extremely important to the country as well.

“We are in a very critical stage in the history of our country. This tour will definitely bring in economic advantage where we propose to generate an income of approximately $ 2.5 million which will circulate in the country and will benefit the people.”

“We are very confident we will be able to conclude the Australian series without any hindrance. The only factor would be the weather, if it keeps well, we are definitely in for a very exciting series which would pave the way for Sri Lanka Cricket to host the much-needed Asia Cup. I hope that we will be able to witness some exhilarating cricket because the brand of cricket the Australians play, we can certainly enjoy. As you know they are very formidable in all three formats of the game and we look forward to a very interesting series,” De Silva said. The SLC secretary also thanked Cricket Australia and the Government of Australia for allowing the tour to go ahead.

“The country has been going through very challenging times and we are indeed happy and grateful to Cricket Australia who has been showing interest and always been very positive about this tour despite the difficulties and hardships our country has been going through,” said De Silva.

“In that context I would like to thank Cricket Australia and also the Australian government for permitting them to visit Sri Lanka on an almost one-and-a-half-month tour. When some of the other major countries in the world have imposed travel adversaries, for Australia to visit Sri Lanka is a huge endorsement of the fact that Sri Lanka is a safe place. That sends out a very strong message to the rest of the world. This tour will also have very important economic benefits to the country. We are indeed happy that as an institution we have been able to muster the support of Cricket Australia and ensure that we can conclude a very successful tour.”