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Sri Lanka Cricket fans and legal advocates are deeply disappointed with the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee (CTC) for failing to lobby the International Cricket Council (ICC) for official recognition of Senaka Weeraratna, the Colombo-based lawyer who conceptualized the Player Referral system (the blueprint for today’s DRS). Public backlash intensified significantly because the committee, led by Eran Wickramaratne, hired former ICC Head of Legal David Becker as an advisor to draft their new governance constitution. Critics note that Becker is the very attorney who previously drafted the legal opinions denying Weeraratna his intellectual property credit. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Core of the Controversy

• The Original Blueprint: Senaka Weeraratna published the conceptual foundations of the Player Referral system on March 25, 1997, in The Australian. [1, 2]
• Four Pillars: His original pitch detailed the core aspects of modern DRS, including allowing players to appeal, routing via the captain/batsman, utilizing television replays, and enforcing a limited number of reviews. [1]
• The ICC Defense: The ICC has historically relied on a “no awareness” defense, claiming independent development by internal committees and stating that Weeraratna waived his rights by publishing the concept openly without a patent.

Why Fans Are Disappointed with the CTC

• Conflict of Interest: Paying David Becker to reform Sri Lanka Cricket while he openly blocked Sri Lanka’s claims to the DRS framework is viewed as an institutional failure and a lack of proper vetting. [1]
• Missed Diplomatic Lever: Activists believe the committee missed a crucial window to demand authorship acknowledgment or push to rename the framework the Weeraratna Decision Review System (WDRS).
• Administrative Disconnect: The public views this as a continuation of long-standing neglect where local boards prioritize commercial ties over defending homegrown intellectual property. [1]

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Sri Lankan cricket fans and legal advocates are heavily disappointed that the Cricket Transformation Committee (CTC) failed to address the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) refusal to recognize Sri Lankan lawyer Senaka Weeraratna as the true inventor of the Player-Referral concept , which laid the foundation for the Decision Review System (DRS).

Core Grievances

• Missed Opportunity: Fans expected the CTC, led by Eran Wickramaratne, to use their constitutional reform platform to demand formal recognition and ownership rights for Weeraratna .
• The Original Blueprint: Weeraratna first publicized his “Player Referral” framework in a letter to The Australian on March 25, 1997—nearly a decade before the ICC introduced the system .
• Lack of Attribution: Unlike the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, the ICC’s DRS framework continues to deny authorial credit and financial compensation to its originator .

The David Becker Controversy

The disappointment has been compounded by a controversial hiring decision made by the reform committee: [1]

• Appointment: The CTC hired David Becker, a South African attorney and former Head of Legal for the ICC, to draft a new constitution and legal framework . [1]
• Prior Actions: Detractors fiercely criticized this move because Becker previously authored the legal opinions that denied intellectual property credit to Weeraratna. [1, 2]
• Public Outcry: Fans are frustrated that the committee engaged the very lawyer who authored briefs against their own countryman instead of lobbying the ICC to correct this global injustice . [1, 2]

Further Exploration: Legal and Historical Context

• Read a detailed review on the LankaWeb True Justice regarding DRS page.
• Review the history of Weeraratna’s claims on the LankaWeb Spirit of Cricket and DRS analysis.
• Investigate the CTC’s recent operations via the ThePapare Eran Wickramaratne Transformation Committee report.

Would you like to know more about the intellectual property arguments regarding the “idea” vs. “technology” of DRS, or read further into the public statements made by local advocates?

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