It was billed as the “cricket event like no other”.
Forget 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.
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.
In the end, it turned out only to be half-true …and not entirely legitimate.
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.
On Friday, Navishta Desilva pleaded guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception, as the County Court heard details about how he defrauded his employer to fund the tournament.
Prosecutor Toni Stokes said Desilva, 36, falsified invoices at the warehouse where he worked and directed about $241,000 to his own bank account between March 2021 and July 2022.
From there, he spent tens of thousands paying international stars.
Desilva’s theft discovered in workplace audit
The court heard he transferred $37,250 to a cricket company owned by Dilshan and $5,800 to Sri Lankan batsman Lahiru Thirimanne. Other players, who were not named, were paid $28,950 by Desilva.
There is no suggestion the players committed any wrongdoing or were aware of Desilva’s illegal activity.
Desilva spent some of the money on personal expenses, including a Louis Vuitton bag.
The theft was discovered after Desilva’s workplace conducted an audit, and police traced email addresses and bank accounts used in the frauds back to him.
Before billing himself as a talent agent, Desilva’s previous jobs included working in a fish and chips shop, as a Harvey Norman employee, a door-to-door salesman, a petrol station attendant, a DJ at Crown Casino and as an auditor for Deloitte.
His lawyer, Sam Norton, said Desilva grew up in Colombo and was a talented young player before his dreams of playing professional cricket fizzled out.
Mr Norton said Desilva had overpromised while organising the T20 tournament and decided to steal the money to ensure it went ahead.
“There are people who are expecting events to go ahead, who are excited by the prospect of international players coming to suburban tournaments … but the arrangement in terms of funding and so on simply didn’t come through,” Mr Norton said.
Judge says conduct ‘pretty devious and quite calculating’
Mr Norton said his client had “genuine remorse” and had borrowed from loved ones to pay back the money. He is now working two jobs to cover his debts.
Prosecutors called for Desilva to be jailed, however Mr Norton asked Judge David Brookes to show leniency and allow him to serve a community corrections order.
Judge Brookes said Desilva had previously been found guilty of stealing from another workplace and his conduct in the latest fraud was “pretty devious and quite calculating”.
“This is the sort of offence where ordinarily the community expects a period of jail,” Judge Brookes said.
Desilva was released on bail and will be sentenced later this month.
He made no comment as he left the court.
Desilva’s failed event was heavily promoted by the Endeavour Hills Cricket Club, where he played as a wicket keeper.
On Friday, a club official said he was no longer a member.(abc.net.au)
