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President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Shammi Silva,
has issued a warning: should the ICC’s suspension of SLC not be removed, the
nation may miss out on hosting the men’s Under-19 World Cup in January and
February. He added that he stopped the International Criminal Court from
suspending Sri Lanka back in July.
The U-19 World Cup, on the other hand, is still up for
debate, and the ICC will only bring it up at its upcoming board meeting on
November 21. It has been discovered that the suspension of SLC in July was not
discussed at all inside the ICC.
According to Silva, ICC deputy chairman Imran Khwaja
had taken special interest in potential political interference in Sri Lanka.
“About five months ago, the ICC came here when there was news of political
interference, and held an inquiry,” Silva said. “Mr. Imran Khwaja met
the minister and the president (of Sri Lanka), and told them the ICC would be
taking it seriously if you don’t properly control this. This [the suspension]
is not something that happening in one or two days.
“Khwaja came on May 10. I later went to an ICC
meeting from July 10 to 14. In their report, it says that Sri Lanka Cricket is
being totally politically abused. Then they told me we have a few options:
either we ban Sri Lanka, stop the cricket in Sri Lanka, or stop the money to
Sri Lanka. I told them not to do that. So actually we were going to be
suspended between July 10 and 14, and we [SLC officials] prevented it.”
On Saturday afternoon, Silva and Ranasinghe had
separate media interviews; at times, both made offensive remarks about the
other. During the press conference Silva held at the SLC headquarters, he
emphasised that the ICC and SLC want guarantees from the highest ranking
official in Sri Lankan politics, the president, that there will be no more
political meddling in the administration of Sri Lankan cricket.