Sri Lanka’s membership in the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been suspended. Sri Lanka’s membership has been suspended as an immediate response, the ICC said in a statement on Friday night. Sri Lanka became a full member of the ICC in 1981.
Allegations of corruption in the country’s cricket board and interference by political figures have been discussed for the past few days.
“The ICC Board, in its meeting today (Friday), has decided that Sri Lanka has violated important restrictions as a cricket member,” the ICC statement said. In particular, the cricket administration needed to be free from government interference to function independently. The ICC Board will inform the conditions of this suspension in time.
While the ICC’s quarterly meeting is scheduled to be held from November 18 to 21 in Ahmedabad, India, the ICC board held a special online meeting on Friday to discuss the situation in the SLC. According to a report by cricket website ESPNcricinfo, the ICC board was concerned about the Sri Lankan government’s interference in everything from the management of the SLC to finances and even the national team.
The ICC informed the SLC of their decision and also informed that the ICC Board meeting on November 21 will decide on the next steps.
Sri Lanka could not perform as expected in the current season of the World Cup. The team is in the ninth position of the table with only two wins in 9 matches and 4 points.
Chasing a huge target of 358 runs against India on November 2, 1996 World Cup winners Sri Lanka lost by a huge margin of 302 runs after being bowled out for just 55 runs.
The country’s sports minister Roshan Fernando demanded the resignation of the cricket board’s executive committee due to such a poor performance in the World Cup. In a statement, the sports minister said, ‘Sri Lankan cricket officials have no moral right to hold the position. They should resign voluntarily.’
(10 November)