Lankan cricketers pay the price for not qualifying directly for World Cup

Sri Lankan cricket team members visiting Zimbabwe to take part in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers were seen seated on the floor of their hotel, waiting to be allocated rooms on Sunday.

Pictures of these went viral on social media and players personal Twitter and their Instagram. It is noteworthy that Sri Lanka are in a situation where they need to play the Qualifiers to be a part of the main ICC Cricket World Cup, for the first time after a very long time. During the qualifying stages, ICC does not afford similar priorities afforded to main ICC tournaments and players have to share hotel rooms and this is very unfair situation for the National cricketers.

It has been learnt that family members (wives) were not allowed to accompany the players on the tour this time due to limited facilities from host Zimbabwe during this tournament which will commence from June 18th to July 9th.

Sri Lanka Cricket, in their media release, made the following clarification pertaining to a delay in the check-in process caused at the hotel, where the team is stationed in Bulawayo.

The Sri Lankan team arrived at the hotel last Sunday (11) at noon, and at the time of the entry, another national cricket team, who arrived just before the Sri Lankan team, was in the process of checking in. This situation resulted in a delay in some of the Sri Lankan National Team players being checked in.