Today, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board has been suspended by ICC. After the announcement, the news spread on social media and became a trending topic across the world. A large number of cricket fans want to know why this happened. In this article, we will cover the matter in detail.
Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has been suspended officially by the International Cricket Council (ICC) board. The suspension has been issued with immediate effect. The decision has taken due to extensive government interference in the Sri Lanka Cricket administration.
As per ICC, “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.”
The International Cricket Council’s regular quarterly meetings are set for November 18-21 in Ahmedabad. However, the ICC Board met online on Friday (November 10) to address the situation with Sri Lanka Cricket. It seems the ICC Board was troubled by the Sri Lankan government’s interference in all aspects of SLC. This includes governance, finances, and even issues around the national team. Apparently, the ICC has notified SLC of its decision. It also told SLC that the ICC Board will decide on the next steps when it convenes on November 21.
On Monday (November 6), Sri Lanka’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe fired the SLC board and installed an interim committee led by Arjuna Ranatunga. However, Sri Lanka’s courts effectively reinstated the board just one day later by issuing a 14-day stay order on the gazette that had dissolved the board.
Since then, the affairs of Sri Lanka Cricket have been extensively debated in parliament. But as of Friday, when the ICC suspension came, it was the elected SLC board headed by Shammi Silva that was administering cricket in the country.
Even if the interim committee had been in power, the appointment of such committees by the government had not prompted suspension by the ICC previously. The last time an interim committee was in place, from 2014 to 2015, the ICC put funds owed to SLC in escrow and relegated SLC to observer status at board meetings. However, they remained an official ICC member.
