Sri Lanka Cricket‘s membership with the ICC has been suspended with immediate effect, a day after their final match of the 2023 men’s ODI World Cup.
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A statement from the ICC, released on November 10, said:
“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 conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC Board in due course.”
The ICC board has suspended Sri Lanka's membership with immediate effect.
The board determined that the SLC is "in serious breach of its obligations as a member" regarding managing their affairs autonomously and operating without government interference. pic.twitter.com/IYVAo4BQR0
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) November 10, 2023
Sri Lanka’s massive defeat to India, by 302 runs, kickstarted a series of events back home. Their sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the Sri Lanka Cricket board officials, after they were accused of poor governance and corruption in a report by the Auditor General of the country.
It was replaced by seven member Interim Committee, which was led by Arjuna Ranatunga.
A sub-committee was also formed by President Ranil Wickremasinghe to investigate SLC. Ranasinghe was urged by the president to withdraw the interim committee.
However, upon SLC president Shammi Silva’s intervention, a stay order of 14 days was issued by the Court of Appeals, preventing the Interim Committee from going ahead.
On the day of their final league match, against New Zealand, a resolution was passed in the parliament to remove “corrupt officials” as well as the chairman of the SLC. Ranasinghe also forwarded the same to the ICC.
A day before the ICC announcement, coach Chris Silverwood was asked to comment on the developments regarding Sri Lanka Cricket in the post-match conference. He said: “When it comes to what’s happening back home at the moment, being an outsider, the politics of Sri Lanka is not really my business, So I will respectfully decline to go into those areas.
“I think what we’ve tried to do here is try and keep a camp together, keep focused on what we’ve been trying to do and obviously try and win here. That’s the best we can do.”
For those wondering why, in brief ⬇️ https://t.co/ALYDXQw8o3 pic.twitter.com/aUlLRGKywX
— Estelle Vasudevan (@Estelle_Vasude1) November 10, 2023
In 2019, Zimbabwe had been similarly suspended by the ICC due to government interference.
Sri Lanka, who won the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers to make an entry into the main event, managed two wins in nine matches, and are eighth on the points table as it stands. In their final league game, they lost to New Zealand by five wickets in Bengaluru.
