On Thursday, Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader, Sajith Premadasa, presented a resolution in Parliament titled ‘the removal of the corrupt SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) management,’ which received support from the ruling party and was ultimately unanimously passed.
Prior to this, Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister, Roshan Ranasinghe, had already dismissed the elected members following the country’s exit from the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023. He appointed former skipper Arjun Ranatunga to lead a seven-member interim committee.
According to the ICC statement, “The ICC Board met today and determined that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, particularly 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 Board in due course.”
The suspension makes SLC ineligible for any ICC funding until further notice and bars them from participating in any events organized by the global body. This could be crucial, especially with the ICC World T20 in the USA and the Caribbean just six months away.
The turmoil in Sri Lanka Cricket follows a dismal performance by the men’s cricket team in the recent tournament in India. The team concluded their six-week participation with a significant loss to New Zealand in Bangalore on Thursday.
With only two victories against England and the Netherlands in nine fixtures, they are set to finish ninth, unless Bangladesh faces a heavy defeat from Australia on Saturday. Such an outcome would eliminate Sri Lanka from contention for the Champions Trophy 2025, the next ODI marquee event scheduled in Pakistan according to the ICC’s calendar.