The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership of the ICC with immediate effect, the world’s cricket governing body said on Friday, a day after the island nation’s parliament unanimously decided to remove the current administrators of the sport.

Sport Minister Roshan Ranasinghe stubbornly took the leadership to sack the current Sri Lanka Cricket Board members following the 2023 World Cup debacle where the island nation lost seven out of nine games they played, their worst performance since 1999 World Cup.
Instead, Ranasinghe appointed an interim committee led by Sri Lanka’s former captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

“The ICC Board met today and determined that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka,” the ICC said in a statement.

“The conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC Board in due course.”

Most Sri Lankan parliamentarians wanted to sack the board accusing them of corruption because it would help them to win the public confidence at a time voters have vowed to reject most of the current legislators in future elections.

Cricket is the most populour sport in Sri Lanka.

Government sources said President Ranil Wickremesinge has asked to reconsider Sports Minister’s decision. However, Minister Ranasinghe criticized Wickremesinghe as well as a court decision that rejected his sacking.

President Wickremesinghe appointed a four-member cabinet sub committee to look into the Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and its future activities. However, before the committee came up with its report, the parliament approved the sacking of top cricket administrators.

Power Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, a member of the four-member cabinet sub-committee on Thursday told the parliament that if the ICC decides to impose a ban on SLC by any chance as a result of the resolutions tabled in Parliament, the 225 members of the parliament should take over the responsibility for it.

Some decisions by Sports Minister Ranasinghe also have led both World Rugby and FIFA to sack Sri Lanka from their memberships.

Courtesy:Economy Next