The ICC has verbally agreed to reimburse the funds Sri Lanka Cricket spent in clearing wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera of doping charges, an SLC board official has said. No decision on whether legal action would be taken has been made, though SLC has not ruled out that option.
"The ICC has agreed to compensate us, but there is nothing in writing," SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said. "In any case we will be making an appeal for that. I'm quite confident that they will oblige us."
"The ICC has agreed to compensate us, but there is nothing in writing," SLC secretary Mohan de Silva said. "In any case we will be making an appeal for that. I'm quite confident that they will oblige us."
SLC confirmed it had spent over 13 million rupees (USD $92,000 approx) on clearing Perera's name, though they did not quite need the 15 million rupees they had set aside to fight the case.
In addition to fees paid to Perera's UK-based lawyers Morgan Sports Law, SLC also helped fund a polygraph test and separate urine test conducted in London, as well as a hair analysis conducted in a Paris lab. Each of these measures is said to have helped give Perera leverage with the ICC.
Perera himself suggested he was not dwelling on the suspension's personal cost to him, but board president Thilanga Sumathipala said the "indirect cost" to Perera had been "colossal". In addition to missing a full tour of New Zealand, a bilateral series against India, and two major tournaments in the Asia Cup and World T20, Perera was also ineligible for the IPL auction. He had been fixture in all three formats for Sri Lanka prior to the suspension.
SLC's executive committee has not made a firm decision on further legal action, but de Silva confirmed discussions were ongoing in the board about "how to compensate Kusal".
The Qatar-based lab, whose findings were deemed "unsustainable" for "scientific and technical reasons" by the independent expert hired by the ICC, may come under scrutiny. However, that expert had also stated the lab had "correctly identified 19-Norandrostenedione in the samples" taken from Perera.
Perera has resumed his training with SLC coaches at Khettarama, after five months of being barred from doing so. He may be in the fray for the limited-overs leg of Sri Lanka's tour of the UK and Ireland.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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