Cricket World Cup: Sri Lanka board chairman slams media
 De Silva played in Sri Lanka's inaugural Test against England in 1982 |
Sri Lanka Cricket chairman DS de Silva has accused the Sri Lankan media of publishing false reports over the delay in constructing World Cup venues.
The International Cricket Council has raised concerns over some venues. The World Cup, co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, begins on 19 February after a week of warm-up games.
"Can you take seriously what those newspapers say? Have those newspapers ever said anything good?" De Silva told the BBC's Sinhala Service.
He was commenting over the reports claiming that the progress of building Sri Lanka's three World Cup venues are lagging behind the ICC deadlines.
 | SRI LANKA'S WORLD CUP VENUES R Premadasa Stadium (Colombo) - 5 group matches, 1 quarter-final, 1 semi-final Pallekele Stadium (Kandy) - 3 group matches Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium (Hambantota) - 2 group matches |
However, he remains confident that all the venues would be ready on time - and played down concerns that there would be any problems on the scale of last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, when several teams threatened to pull out because of unfinished or substandard facilities.
The Sunday Leader English weekly claimed on Sunday that its reporters were not allowed to visit all three venues - the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Pallekele Stadium in Kandy and Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota on 10 January.
But SLC chairman De Silva, a former leg-spinner who played 12 Tests and 41 one-day internationals for Sri Lanka between 1975 and 1985, says the request was made about a month ago.
"We haven't stopped anybody from visiting the venues. They can now visit the venues and publish their reports," he said.
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