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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humanoid" data-source="post: 8259009" data-attributes="member: 301119">NEW DELHI: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Sri Lanka Cricket" target="_blank">Sri Lanka Cricket</a> (SLC) officials on Friday lashed out at attempts by the British media to highlight batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan's alleged links with bookies, saying it was a "white conspiracy" intended to "malign" and "defame" the country's cricketers. The <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=SLC" target="_blank">SLC</a> admitted another player, <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Dilhara-Fernando" target="_blank">Dilhara Fernando</a>, had instead been approached by bookies a day before the terrorist attack in <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Lahore" target="_blank">Lahore</a> on Sri Lanka's cricketers in March 2009, and the matter had been promptly reported to the ICC. In a vehement denial to the Daily Mail report that Dilshan was under the scanner of the <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Anti Corruption and Security Unit" target="_blank">Anti Corruption and Security Unit</a> (ACSU) of the ICC, top sources in the know-how of the Lankan cricket establishment told TOI: "It is a foolish attempt to malign a Sri Lankan cricketer without a shred of evidence. It smacks of a white conspiracy. The way things are going, we won't be surprised if a big Indian cricketer's name crops up next. "These stories are cooked up intentionally just to give the subcontinent's cricketers a bad name. What is worse, it forces us to issue denials to absolutely rubbish charges. These allegations are indicative of a deep racist bias, besides plain ignorance of the truth. It seems it's a free-for-all (sic) now that Pakistan's links have been exposed." The East-West cracks in world cricket's administration have been exposed often enough, and the latest shadow of spot-fixing looming over Pakistani and now Lankan players threatens again to highlight this split. The Daily Mail reported that Dilshan had been named in team manager Brendon Kuruppu's report during the World T20 in <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=England" target="_blank">England</a> in 2009 for having met bookies at a nightclub. Another report in a Sri Lankan newspaper, the Island, claimed a different player, Dilhara Fernando, had been under investigation by the ACSU for almost two years now. The Daily Mail report even suggested it was <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Kumar-Sangakkara" target="_blank">Kumar Sangakkara</a> who had expressed reservations about Dilshan, which the <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=Lankan skipper" target="_blank">Lankan skipper</a> has denied. SLC board officials said Fernando had indeed reported "suspicious approach" of a bookie. A Lanka board source said: "The approach happened a day before the terrorist attack on our players in <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Pakistan" target="_blank">Pakistan</a>. The ACSU came over to Sri Lanka in May 2009 to interview players about the Lahore attack and Dilhara must be commended for following protocol and letting them know of the bookie's advances. "This was standard practice and there have been no developments since. Also, recent reports of Dilshan being under police investigation in Sri Lanka are also totally untrue. If there is anything substantial against any player, wouldn't the ACSU have got in touch with us?" In an official statement on the Dilshan issue, the board said: "We reiterate that none of Dilshan's teammates complained to Sangakkara about any specific incident. Neither Sangakkara nor the team management reported any specific player or players to the ACSU." Sangakkara, meanwhile, said: "These stories are baseless. No Sri Lankan player to my knowledge is in suspicion of fraternising with these so-called bookies. As far as I know there was no report to SLC or ICC's ACSU. I have never reported against any player specifically. No one including me has voiced suspicion over any of teammate at any time. I have not seen anything of this sort even during the <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=IPL" target="_blank">IPL</a>. It is time to restore public confidence in cricket." Given the frequency of such allegations, though, that seems unlikely at the moment. This is also the second time in a month that Dilshan is under the scanner: his match fees were forfeited after it was revealed that he instigated bowler Suraj Randiv to overstep and deny Virender Sehwag a century during the recent tri-series in Dambulla. He has been hounded by allegations of indiscipline and was recently removed from the vice-captaincy following a controversial <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Zimbabwe" target="_blank">Zimbabwe</a> sojourn. Read more: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/Dilshan-slur-a-white-conspiracy-Sri-Lanka-Cricket/articleshow/6533564.cms#ixzz0zFsdqUlm" target="_blank">Dilshan slur a white conspiracy: Sri Lanka Cricket - The Times of India</a> <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/Dilshan-slur-a-white-conspiracy-Sri-Lanka-Cricket/articleshow/6533564.cms#ixzz0zFsdqUlm" target="_blank">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/Dilshan-slur-a-white-conspiracy-Sri-Lanka-Cricket/articleshow/6533564.cms#ixzz0zFsdqUlm</a></blockquote>

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