Sri Lankan cricket fans during the Cricket World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. (PTI Photo) Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been suspended by the ICC Board with immediate effect, the global governing body of the sport announced on Friday evening.
In a short press release the ICC 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 development comes on the heels of a turbulent World Cup campaign by the islanders, where they’re currently ninth in the 10-team standings after winning just two of their nine matches.
There has been turmoil brewing in Sri Lankan cricket over the performance of the national team. On Monday, Sri Lankan Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe had sacked the SLC management and appointed former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga as the head of a seven-member interim committee to govern the cricket board. However, that was overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Later in the week, the Sri Lankan parliament had unanimously passed a resolution demanding the sacking of SLC. Parties from both sides of the aisle had supported it.
That resolution, passed by Sri Lankan parliament, seems to have irked ICC.
The ICC had last suspended a full member two years ago when Zimbabwe Cricket was suspended, once again due to government interference.
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