Sri Lankan TV channel in trouble after accusing players for fixing Pakistan match
News reports from Sri Lanka suggest that legal action will be taken within a few days against a state owned television channel in Sri Lanka for accusing two senior players of the national team for fixing their World Cup match against Pakistan on Saturday.
The players accused by the network are Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera. According to sources, the players are considering to sue the network for maligning their reputation and accusing them of a crime the network has no proof of.
Sri Lanka Cricket has slammed the channel for attacking the players in a Sinhala language programme called ‘Wimasuma’ (Research). A statement by the SLC said, “Sri Lanka Cricket strongly condemns the bona fides of this anchor who hosted this programme carrying
a story that is baseless and thereby demoralising our players during the on-going World Cup.”
The statement further said, “Sri Lanka Cricket will be taking up the matter with relevant authorities of this [TV] channel, based on the fact that this channel has brought great distress to two of our national cricketers who have served Sri Lanka with honour
and dignity throughout their illustrious careers.”
Mahinda Abeysundara, the editor of the government published Sinhala newspaper Dinamina (The Sun), suggested Jayawardene and Samaraweera gave away their wickets in Saturday’s match which caused the national team to lose the contest by 11 runs while chasing
Pakistan’s 277.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 President Mahinda Rajapaksa had summoned the editors of the Sri Lankan media recently in a bid to convince the local media not to publish and broadcast negative statements about the national team in the build-up or during the ICC World Cup 2011.
The President was of the view that negativity in the media would have a demoralising effect on the players.
However, Abeysundara decided to ignore the President’s call and raised questions on the performance of the two players.
Sri Lanka’s dependable middle-order batsman Jayawardene was clean bowled for just two runs by a delivery from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482.
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