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Another twist to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
By S.R. Pathiravithana
Oh come on! Somebody has put his foot in his mouth or is this a deliberate attempt to undermine a well respected cricketer's future. The whole episode began when Sri Lanka clearly having the upper-hand in their recent series against England were fumbling in style in search of a win and the Lankan incumbent captain was coming under tremendous criticism and pressure.

The second Test match at Asgiriya was over and the third Test match at the SSC grounds in Colombo had begun. Then suddenly out of the blues the next in line for the post, Marvan Atapattu received an unanticipated shock on December 13th 2003. First it came on TV. The story already had been leaked there. Commentator Michael Holding was a proud man to come out with a scoop. The story was that money amounting to Rs. 1.1 million or $24,300 had been found in the locker in the room that Atapattu had occupied at the Earl's Regency Hotel while in Kandy.

The first part of a story that smells a big fat rat was out. Who ever wanted publicity for this one had gone to the correct source. On international TV millions of people learned about this development. But, apparently as the tale goes there were other people who occupied that particular room after the Sri Lanka vice-captain had done so. Police intervened asked questions from a lot of people including Atapattu who denied anything to do with that.

When the the first episode was simmering down the Sri Lanka Cricket Media Unit made a statement to all Print and Electronic Media a few days agosigned by the SLC acting CEO under the heading: A sum of money found at the Earl's Regency Hotel Kandy during the England Tour - Nov/Dec 2003.

It said: Members of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC were in Sri Lanka to verify facts independently on the Media reports published recently with regard to Rs. 1.1 million found in the hotel room that was occupied by many foreign guests as well as Mr. Marvan Atapattu in Kandy. ( Earls Regency Hotel ). These officials met officials of Sri Lanka Cricket and as there was no evidence of any breach of conduct on the part of the player concerned, there was no necessity to conduct an official inquiry.

When the Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket Mohan de Silva was contacted on the above he too endorsed the same by saying " Even the ICC corruption unit people came and went back even without bothering to question Marvan, now the matter is over".

On the 15th of January News Agency AFP filed the following statement made by ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.--ICC denies investigation has been completed. The International Cricket Council dismissed reports from Sri Lanka suggesting the investigation into the discovery of money found in a room that had been occupied by Sri Lanka batsman Marvan Atapattu had been completed.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said that he had written to Sri Lanka Cricket to establish if it issued any media statement suggesting the matter, concerning 1.1 million rupees ( $24,300), had been concluded as has been reported. "If it has been reported, Sri Lanka issued a statement suggesting that this matter has been finalised, I would be concerned," said Speed.

"Not only is it inaccurate to make this suggestion, it is also inappropriate for a board to usurp the role of the Anti Corruption and Security Unit which is an independent body that makes its own judgement about these issues and reports to the ICC. " This is not an area that is within the jurisdiction of an individual board. If any board made inappropriate or inaccurate comments about the work of the ACSU I would take the matter directly with the Board involved.

" As far as the inquiry is concerned, Marvan is a widely respected and senior player and it is important that this matter is thoroughly investigated to establish the full factual situation of what has taken place. "What can be said with certainty at this stage is that the investigation is on-going and that the ACSU is continuing with its inquiries in order to establish these facts. I hope the matter will be resolved quickly."

Besides any thing else the whole base and timing of this episode does not sound good. There is more than one person in the cricketing know-how who feel that there is some very influential and powerful force which is trying its best to keep Marvan out of the Sri Lanka captaincy. If this notion is a correct one, it will not do any good to the game of cricket in Sri Lanka.

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