Sri Lanka Cricket faced $125,000 loss due to rescheduling of West Indies series
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Saturday said that the rescheduling of the One Day International (ODI) series against West Indies due to bad weather had made the board face a loss of $125,000.
And as a further upshot of the postponed series, the Caribbean fans will not be able to see their heroes playing Sri Lanka, as SLC’s TV media partner, Taj Entertainment Network (TEN) pulled the plug on negotiations, hours before the West Indies team reached
Sri Lanka.
The series was scheduled to be played in December last year but the persistent bad weather across the island had forced the boards to postpone the series to January and now it will be played in January-February.
The number of matches in the series has also been curtailed from five to three and this has lead to the broadcasting issue.
"The three-match series which is due to begin on January 31 is not a planned tour according to the agreement signed with the television broadcasting company”, said the acting CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, Ajith Jayasekera.
“We have obtained legal advice and they say it should be considered a separate tour. It is not in the tour program according to the contract”, he added.
Jayasekera told the media reporters that the board had incurred a loss of $25,000 television fees for each match, hence the board lost $125,000 for the whole five-match series.
In the absence of the regular broadcasters, all the three matches will be live, covered by Sri Lanka's national television station, Rupavahini, but it would be for local fans only.
The venues to host the series have also undergone changes. Earlier the matches were to be played in two World Cup venues as well including, Hambantota, and the R Premadasa Stadium.
But the International Cricket Council (ICC) have barred the board from using the venues as they have already been handed over to the ICC and the rules allow the side to practice in the World Cup venues but not play until the event starts.
Now all the three matches will be staged at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. The first match of the series between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 and Sri Lanka will be played on Monday, 31 January 2011 followed by the second and third on 3rd and 6th
February.
The funds raised from the rescheduled series, according to SLC, will go to the flood victims of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
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