BCCSL agrees to new corporate identity

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has followed the recent example of Cricket Australia, and decided to change its corporate identity. The board will now be called Sri Lanka Cricket following a unanimously passed resolution at an Extraordinary General Meeting on Sunday.

"We decided that we wanted to move with the times and give the board a better corporate image," explained Mohan de Silva, the BCCSL secretary. "By renaming the board we are falling in line with the thinking in other boards and within the International Cricket Council management."

The new name, and logo, will officially be launched on September 22, when Ehsan Mani, the ICC's new president, makes a courtesy visit to Sri Lanka.

The BCCSL membership also backed executive committee plans to change the management structure of the cricket board, and launch a special audit into the 27-month period of interim control that had preceded its election earlier this year.

A new commercial management board, which will be called Sri Lanka Cricket Incorporated, will be registered as a Board of Investment (BOI) company.

"The management board of Sri Lanka Cricket Incorporated will still be responsible to the constitution under the new structure," explained de Silva. "But the new structure will have significant financial benefits, such as reductions in taxation and duty."

The decision to carry out a special audit into the activities of the previous interim committee was prompted by the recent decision of a Singapore tribunal that a broadcasting contract with WSG Nimbus had been wrongfully cancelled. WSG Nimbus are currently claiming US$ 11 million in damages from the BCCSL.

"The membership has written to us concerning various irregularities during the interim period and we have to accommodate their concerns," said de Silva. "This is not a witch hunt but we [the executive committee] cannot be held responsible for the decisions made during this period."