{"id":18599,"date":"2026-05-07T04:36:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=18599"},"modified":"2026-05-07T04:36:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:36:41","slug":"eran-wickramaratne-false-claims-ethnic-quotas-u19-cricketers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/eran-wickramaratne-false-claims-ethnic-quotas-u19-cricketers\/","title":{"rendered":"Eran Wickramaratne Did NOT Introduce Ethnic Quotas or Comment on U-19 Player Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Following the appointment of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, several false and misleading posts circulated on social media. Presented below is a fact-check of selected claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claim <\/strong>1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social Media Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being appointed as the new president of Sri Lanka Cricket, Mr. Eran Wickramaratne has changed the constitution of Sri Lanka Cricket and introduced a nationality and religious quota for selecting players, similar to South Africa. Accordingly, a post was shared on social media stating that the Sri Lankan cricket team’s player composition has been created as 3 Sinhala Buddhist players, 3 Sinhala Catholic players, 2 Sri Lankan Tamil players, 1 Muslim player, 1 Hill Tamil player and 1 Burgher player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This post was further shared on social media as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Facebook Post 1<\/strong><\/a> | <\/strong>Facebook Post 2<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 29 April 2026, former Member of Parliament Eran Wickramaratne was appointed Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee by Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage. This followed the resignation of the executive committee, including then Chairman Shammi Silva. The committee’s mandate is to comprehensively reform the governance structure of Sri Lanka Cricket and implement a new constitution. It comprises nine members, including distinguished former cricketers Kumar Sangakkara, Roshan Mahanama, and Sidath Wettamuny. Under the leadership of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, the committee has commenced preliminary work on drafting a new constitution aimed at strengthening governance and addressing corruption. Details on the committee’s formation and priorities are available in the referenced sources here,<\/a> here,<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a context where public attention is firmly focused on this appointment, any move by the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, under the leadership of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, to introduce quotas based on nationality or religion would have warranted prominent coverage across mainstream media. We checked whether any such news had been reported in the mainstream media; however, no such reports were observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention was also given to the perspectives of the newly appointed Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, led by Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, on the future direction of Sri Lankan cricket and the reforms they intend to implement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official statement made by Mr. Eran Wickramaratne on his appointment as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mr. Eran Wickramaratne has officially stated that his primary objective is to establish a merit-based system within the cricket organization. He has not mentioned any segregation of players based on race or religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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