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The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said its finances were on a good wicket after clinching commercial sponsorships for the sale of television rights and ongoing tournaments.

Net profits for 2005 were 356.97 million rupees (35 million dollars) compared to a loss of 321.53 million rupees (32 million dollars) in the previous year. The governing body of the island’s most profitable and popular sport saw its total income jump to 881.78 million rupees (88 million dollars) from 280.09 million rupees (28 million dollars) in 2004. “Nearly 80 percent of our revenues came from selling television rights,” the SLC Finance Manager Upali Seneviratne said.

The SLC signed a record 50-million-dollar TV deal last year with a Dubai-based sports broadcaster.

Visiting teams from the West Indies, Bangladesh and a tri-series between the West Indies, India and Sri Lanka had also helped swell coffers.

However, the December 2004 tsunami left the board with a 52.43 million-rupee bill as giant tidal waves flooded and destroyed the Galle International Cricket Stadium, the statement said. Sri Lanka pays a frenzied, cross-cultural obeisance to cricket that is worshipped like a national religion rather than merely a game.

Source:The News