World XI Charity game postponed

Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - srilankacricket.lk

Colombo, 29th August 2017

Sri Lanka Cricket today (25) announced that the World XI vs. Sri Lanka XI Charity match which was to be played on the 8th of September 2017 has been postponed.

The Technical Committee (TC) of SLC has recommended postponing the T20 game, which would have been played at the tail end of the ongoing India series as the Sri Lanka national team, of which several players were slated to be a part of the Sri Lankan XI have been playing back-to-back cricket since May when they travelled to the UK for two warm up games against Scotland ahead of the Champions Trophy, and returned to Sri Lanka into a 5 X ODI, 1 Test Zimbabwe Series followed immediately by the ongoing 3 X Test, 5 X ODI, and single T20 India series. It is also worthy of note that the Champions Trophy was preceded by the Domestic Super Provincial Tournament, making for 5 months of back-to-back cricket.

With the focus of the Administration strongly on Player Management and injury prevention with the 2019 World Cup in mind, the TC have evaluated the risk of injury and burnout as being “unwise at this juncture” prompting the Executive Committee to postpone the Charity game to a later date.

Announcing the postponement SLC Chief Executive Officer Ashley De Silva stated –

We are sorry to announce the postponement of the World XI game which was to be played on the 8th of September at the R. Premadasa Stadium. The Technical Committee of SLC has evaluated the factors involved and feel quite rightly that we need to give our players a break after several months of intense cricket.

In addition to this, a couple of key players like Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara are also not available on this date, so we felt that we could afford to wait a while and play this game at a more conducive time.

I must extend my sincere thanks to the players who confirmed their participation – Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina & Yoosuf Pathan (India) Shaid Afridi, Misbha Ul Haq & Abdur Razak (Pakistan) Tyml Mills (England) Graham Cremer (Zimbabwe) Ronchi Luke (New Zealand) JP Dumini & Farhaan Berhardien (South Africa) amongst others as well the respective Boards for the support extended.

To our partners SONY Pictures and ITW for the broadcast and ground sponsorships, as well as other partners who came forward to sponsor this effort – we are indeed grateful both as a cricket board, and as a nation for your support in this worthy cause.”

The purpose of this game was to raise funds for disaster effected, with a special focus on children who have lost their parents, single mothers and the elderly who have been left destitute. The funds which would be disbursed through Sri Lanka Cricket’s charity arm Cricket Aid were to be disbursed as monthly subsistence and scholarship payments paid through the local GA offices in consultation with the Ministry for Disaster Management.

Commenting further, the CEO stated –

“We have by no means abandoned this plan, and we will definitely be playing this match at the earliest possible date. This cause is very dear to us, and apart from the pledges of support and sponsorship from the corporate sector, we had received many pledges from cricketers, both past and present who wish to give back to their country and support their brethren who have been effected.

We have decided to host several children from the effected Districts who are earmarked as beneficiaries of this scheme to witness the 4th ODI in Colombo. This will give them an opportunity of an outing, as well as a chance to interact with a their favourite cricketers. We also intend to set up an interim scheme until we are able to go ahead with the full plan” he concluded.

Cricket Aid is the charity arm of Sri Lanka Cricket, which was launched in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, who through its efforts was able to set up a similar foster care scheme for 1000 orphaned children across the Island with the proceeds earned through a World XI match played at the MCG in aid of its Tsunami relief efforts. Cricket Aid, which was abandoned was re-launched in June 2016 and has since been involved in disaster relief efforts for the eradication of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), the May 2016 Floods, the Meethotamulla disaster, the May 2017 Floods, and most recently the drought relief efforts.

Cricket Aid is a registered Charity, approved as the official Charity arm of Sri Lanka Cricket by the International Cricket Council.