Sri Lanka to address concerns over women' s cricket

Sri Lanka' s national cricket board said on Wednesday that it is studying reports submitted following two inquiries on women' s cricket and will look to address the concerns.

The two inquiries were conducted following allegations of sexual and improper conduct involving the women' s cricket team.

However Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the national cricket board, said that there are no grounds to initiate criminal proceedings against any individual accused of improper conduct while they were involved with the national women' s cricket team.

Sri Lanka Cricket said that it has received the report which was recently submitted to the Minister of Tourism and Sports by the Committee of Inquiry appointed last year by the then Minister of Sports to investigate the allegations.

The Committee of Inquiry has investigated and reported on alleged incidents of sexual harassment and improper conduct said to have been committed in 2013 and 2014 by some officials handling women' s cricket.

Sri Lanka Cricket said that it has also received the report of an Attorney-at-Law who was appointed by Sri Lanka Cricket to investigate and report on the same allegations.

Following the Investigations carried out by the Committee of Inquiry and the Attorney-at-Law, both reports have concluded that there have been a few incidents of sexual harassment which were committed by two male officials but that there was no evidence of any physical intimacy and that, there were no grounds to justify criminal proceedings.

Further, both reports have commented adversely on the failure to ensure that a female manager handles the women' s cricket team.

The Sri Lanka Cricket board said that it will study the reports further and take appropriate action to rectify any defects that prevail with regard to women' s cricket in Sri Lanka. Endi