Days after being relegated from the ongoing 50-over World Cup in India, Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership has been suspended with immediate effect by the International Cricket Council.
The ICC Board met today and determined that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a member, and 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 conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC, with the Board set to meet on November 21, after which the future course of action is expected to become clearer.
It is understood that on Monday, Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister sacked the entire cricket board and installed an interim committee led by former World Cup winner Arjuna Ranatunga.
However, it also contained two sons of politicians.
On Tuesday, this interim committee was struck down by the courts with the old Board reinstated.
Under Sri Lanka’s own sports law, the government has the power to dissolve the governing body of any sport.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka Cricket released a statement denying government accusations that they had mishandled preparations for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, due to take place in January 2024.
Today, they released a further statement denying accusations of transferring two million dollars from its accounts to third party accounts.
