SLC to honour late Shane Warne before the first Test-by Dhammika Ratnaweera
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will pay tribute to the late spin legend Shane Warne when the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia begins at the Galle International Cricket Stadium tomorrow.
The spin legend Warne died on March 4, 2022, during a holiday in Thailand nearly four months ago. Late spin legend from Australia Shane Warne was not a popular figure among Sri Lankans in the 1990s but his contributions towards the country’s most disadvantaged kids after the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 helped change that attitude.
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| CEO of Cricket Australia , Nick Hockley |
According to the SLC Chief Executive officer (CEO) Ashley de Silva initially this Test series was named after great spinners as the Murali- Warne Trophy and this time after the sudden death of Shane Warne we are planning to pay tribute to late Shane Warne. His family has been invited to join the ceremony at Galle International cricket stadium that would begin just before the start of the first Test tomorrow but their presence remains uncertain. This ceremony will be conducted jointly by SLC and Ministry of Tourism on the opening day (29).
We have written to Warne’ s family through Cricket Australia (CA) but we have not received any confirmation of their visit, said the CEO of SLC.
Meanwhile CEO of Cricket Australia, Nick Hockley will grace the occasion and his presence has been confirmed by him, who has served as Cricket Australia’s interim CEO for almost an year, was formally appointed to the post on May 30, 2021.
Actually late Shane Warne had a deep passion to support and help underprivileged people of Sri Lanka and on numerous occasions, he engaged in many projects, spending large sums of money for community development programmes,” said de Silva of Warne. “I think it’s the duty and responsibility to remember him with gratitude during the Test series for the Murali-Warne Trophy.” Australia led by Pat Cummins and Sri Lanka captained by Dimuth Karunaratne are very keen to play this series as it is a part of the matches of the ICC Test cricket Championship. At the moment Australia is on top of the ICC Test championship points table while Sri Lanka is in fourth position.
A series win will elevate Sri Lanka to second position, while a 2-0 loss will relegate them to sixth place, and 1-0 to fifth place. Australia suffered a 3-0 defeat in the Test series when they last visited Sri Lanka six years ago, where the Tests were played first before going on to the white ball series. This time around, they started with the white ball series (T20 and ODI) before moving on to the Test series, which has given most of their players ample time to acclimatize to the conditions, while helping selectors to decide their team based on performance in the white ball series, as well as the ‘A’ team tour which took place concurrently.
Meanwhile the CEO Ashley de Silva pointed out the present situation of the country has not affected this Test series while Sri Lanka cricket together with Government (Sports Ministry) already organised this series to get more success.
The proceeds from the Test series ticket sales is going to be handed over to the Government through Sports Ministry while the proceeds from the previous T 20 and ODI’ series tickets sales approximately nearly 160 million rupees is very important at this stage and SLC is expected to donate all proceeds from the T-20, ODI and Test series ticket sales to the Government at this difficult stage and it was confirmed by SLC President Shammi Silva.
As a responsible sports body we have to give our support to the Government and I must thank Cricket Australia for their assistance for this cricket series added SLC President Shammi Silva. The SLC President also said spectators have given their maximum support and hoped for their support during this Test series.
