» Rival national cricket body eyed to save sport in Canada

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Cricket in this country is in disrepair and there is a growing fear the game will suffer immeasurably.

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The game has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years and is considered the fastest-growing sport in Canada, but infighting and lack of governances at the provincial level have taken it a notch down.

And Cricket Canada, the governing body of the sport, has done nothing to redeem itself and is in itself battling serious headwinds. Its very own CEO Salman Khan has been charged with theft and fraud committed during his time as president of the Calgary and District League between 2014 and 2016 and the Calgary Police in a statement said it believes two men are responsible for misappropriating “approximately $200,000 from the league.’’

Despite the police charge, CC president Amjad Bajwa is standing by his man saying he won’t “use a knee-jerk reaction to dismiss him for now.”

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Bajwa told Postmedia in an exclusive interview he will let CC’s legal and governance experts to decide “further course of action.”

This decision by Bajwa has taken a few provincial associations by surprise and Philip Hicks of Edmonton is contemplating starting a rival Cricket Canada “to save the game from an association that lacks any transparency.”

He added it is “time for us cricket lovers to flush this administration down the toilet and start anew.”

The former Australian who played the game in his country and later in England before moving to Canada is an entrepreneur and wants to turn things around before it is too late.

“At the local level, I have asked the Edmonton league on several occasions for its financial statements, but it has always been denied,” Hicks said. “If you have nothing to hide, why would one refuse this request?”

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This feud is now percolating and it should blow wide open as soon as Calgary police comes down with its decision.

Last month, Asad Zia, treasurer for the Edmonton Cricket District League, tendered his resignation, saying “due to a series of ongoing challenges and governance issues, I no longer feel that I can effectively fulfill my responsibilities in this role.”

He added: “There have been multiple instances where the president (Gurdeep Klair) has approved expenses that were either not budgeted for or not authorized by the executive committee. As a treasurer, I cannot make payments without proper approval, yet I have been pressured into doing so.”

Zia added that financial mismanagement has also taken the form of favouritism in awarding contracts.

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“Last year in the absence of the previous president, the first vice-president awarded a ground wicket contract to his friend for $27,658.80 despite the league having a legitimate quote for the same work at $16,700 — a difference of nearly $11,000,” he said. “This blatant favoritism and misuse of league funds is unacceptable, yet it was pushed forward without any accountability.

“When financial matters are handled this way, it raises serious concerns about the integrity and future financial health of EDCL.”

At the national level, Cricket Canada faces a lawsuit from highly decorated coach Pubudu Dassanayake for wrongful dismissal. Under his leadership, Canada qualified for the World Twenty20 Cup and reclaimed its one-day international status.

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At the T20 World Cup, Dassanayake worked wonders, even though he found himself handcuffed by his very own national body.

Canada stunned Test-playing Ireland and, if there wasn’t any interference from the national body, Dassanayake believes Canada could have done even better.

“I honestly believe that our team was capable of reaching the second round of the competition, but with five players brought in without my knowledge made it difficult,” he added. “And these players were given high priority.”

Cricket Canada fired Dassanayake when the squad returned home, even though the two parties had signed a new contract that would keep him in charge until 2027 if the team qualified for the next World Cup. Canada did so and Dassanayake is waiting to hear back from his lawyers.

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Two of the players who lost their places on the national team after CC flew in their “own players,” Srimantha Wijeyeratne and Amar Khalid, took their case to Sports Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada and the body sided with the two players.

Their replacements were not allowed to play as, according to ICC rules, they had not lived in the country for three years.

“Although we won our case we decided to withdraw our names,” Wijeyeratne said. “As we did not want to disrupt the squad. But we both lost out as our names weren’t forwarded for selection in the Global T20, where we could have earned some money.”

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And Divya Saxena also has taken CC to court after she was relieved of her duties as long-time skipper of the national squad and dropped.

Saxena complained of “harassment and bullying by management” and also the way the women’s team was treated.

“We were told to gather together for a total of 10-hour camp prior to an ICC qualifying tourney. She objected to the short time to prepare and was promptly excluded and warned not to discuss this with the media,” a statement said.

Hopefully, the ICC looks into the way Cricket Canada operates before it’s too late.

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