ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Sri Lanka files complaint with ICC with respect to scheduling

Sri Lanka crashed to one of their biggest defeats in the World Cup when they went down to South Africa by six wickets in their first match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024. After the loss, Sri Lanka skipper Wanindu Hasaranga and spinner Maheesh Theekshana have raised a complaint with the ICC with respect to ‘unfair scheduling’.

The Sri Lankan players have complained that their roster is ‘unfair’ and, combined with lengthy travel times, the team has been left fuming.

Sri Lanka has been scheduled to play South Africa in New York, Bangladesh in Dallas on June 8, Nepal in Florida on June 12 and the Netherlands in St. Lucia on June 17.

As per reports, Sri Lanka team’s manager, Mahinda Halangoda, has written to the ICC on the scheduling, but, given that the tournament is already underway, a solution to their logistical problems seems unlikely.

After the loss to South Africa, Theekshana said the scheduling has had a huge impact on their preparations. “So unfair for us, we have to leave every day (after the match) because we are playing in four different venues. The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. We were supposed to leave at 8pm but we got the flight at 5am. It’s really unfair for us, but it doesn’t matter when you play,” the spinner said.

South Africa will play three games in New York, while India will also play three matches in New York before moving to Florida for their last group fixture.

Theekshana said the commuting distance between the ground and the hotel is also far, which has forced the team to even cancel one training session. “Even from the hotel, the practice venue is one hour and 40 minutes away. Even for the match against South Africa, we had to wake up around 5am to come here. We have also cancelled one training session ahead of the South Africa match too,” Theekshana elaborated.

The spinner opined that some teams have had favourable scheduling. “I can’t say the teams that are playing in the same venue, so they know what the conditions are like. They’re playing practice games at the same venue. No one will get that. We played the practice games in Florida, and our third game’s in Florida. There’s some things that I think that everyone will rethink about next year because I know that this year, nothing will change,” he added.

Sri Lanka captain Hasaranga concurred with his team mate and said the players had endured tough times in the last few days. “We had a tough time in the last few days. All four games in four venues. It’s hard. This is our first game in New York. Next game in Dallas. Next game is in Florida, where we played two games, that’s the only plus point we have,” he said.