Sri Lanka’s sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has ordered an independent inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding the women’s cricket team.
The head of Sri Lankan Cricket, Ashley de Silva, said the inquiry would begin in the next two days and be led by a female lawyer.
Reports in the local press had alleged that some national women cricketers had to perform sexual favours for officials in order to earn or keep their place in the national side.
“The minister wants to clear the air by getting this report investigated. We want to get to the bottom of it because this is bad for the image of the game and the country,” a spokesman Harsha Abeykoon told AFP.
“To be fair by all the parties, it’s necessary for us to carry out an independent inquiry to clear the names of some people, if they’re not guilty of something,” De Silva told ESPNcricinfo. “So far we have not had any accusations.”
An “initial investigation” last week in which selectors, team management and players were interviewed received “no accusations”, he added.
“The inquiry would be carried out by one person, a lawyer, with an assistant,” De Silva said. “This would be only the preliminary investigation. Based on the report, the executive committee will make a decision on the way forward – whether we need to have another committee to carry out an inquiry or not.”
The executive committee is expected to consider the findings at its next meeting on 12 November and the board will then decide on whether a full-scale investigation is required.
