"These people are leading the country towards religious fanaticism, religious bigotry, racism, and even towards war," says the Sinhala-language caption of a Facebook graphic shared on May 2, 2026.
According to the graphic, Sri Lanka Cricket -- the country’s wealthiest sporting body -- is changing its constitution to introduce an ethnicity and religion-based quota to select players, similar to a system employed by South Africa (archived link). South Africa has formal targets for racial representation in their cricket teams (archived link).
Superimposed text on the graphic claims Sri Lankan cricket squads will now have to be composed of "three Sinhala-Buddhist players, three Sinhala-Catholics, three Sri Lankan Tamils, one Muslim, one hill-country Tamil and one Burgher".
The graphic bears the logo of local news outlet Top News and a photo of opposition politician Eran Wickramaratne, who was appointed to lead the Sri Lanka Cricket board by the government at the end of April (archived here, here and here).
The same graphic was shared in similar Facebook posts after Wickramaratne's appointment -- part of the Sri Lankan government's decision to take temporary control of Sri Lanka Cricket, which has been plagued by allegations of corruption and mismanagement. It has also come under fire for the country's performances on the cricket pitch (archived link).
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