The first of the two scheduled games went ahead as planned, but the second was called off when allegations emerged that a tournament organiser had bankrolled the event using stolen money. In the end, it turned out only to be half-true …and not entirely legitimate. To some, the thought of Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan hammering fours and sixes on Dandenong's Shepley Oval - while DJ Havana Brown blasted tunes in the innings break - simply sounded too good to be true. It was billed as the 'cricket event like no other'.įorget the Ashes or the World Cup, the hottest fixture of last summer would be at a suburban oval in Melbourne's south-east where some of the game's greatest limited-overs players would take centre stage over two weekends. What's next? Desilva was released on bail and will be sentenced later this month.Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Shoaib Malik were among the cricket stars who featured for Endeavour Hills in Melbourne's south-east last year, although it is not suggested they were involved in any wrongdoing.In short: Navishta Desilva has pleaded guilty to fraud after stealing $250,000 from his workplace and using the money to lure international cricket players to Australia to represent his local club.
