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On Tuesday, the supreme International Cricket Council
(ICC) will decide on a matter pertaining to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Following
the suspension of the Sri Lankan board on the grounds of purported government
meddling, the ICC now needs to deal with the issue of the Under 19 World Cup,
which is slated to take place there in January 2024. The meeting of the ICC
Board is being held in Ahmedabad.
A Sri Lankan court has moved the SLC case to November
22, one day after the Board meeting, while the ICC continues to decide on the
case. A stay on the government’s Gazette notification, which disbanded the SLC
and named an interim committee headed by Arjuna Ranatunga to administer cricket
in Sri Lanka, was obtained by the suspended SLC members. On the government’s
request, the court postponed the dispute until Wednesday after initially
stopping the gazette notification’s implementation for two weeks.
Meanwhile, it has come to light that the ICC’s
suspension of the SLC was initiated at the request of the SLC itself. In a
series of letters, elected SLC chief Shammi Silva pleaded with the ICC to take
action against the body.
In a letter written on November 9, Silva said,
“We urgently request the ICC’s urgent intervention to safeguard interests
of cricket in Sri Lanka. Your prompt attention and action on this matter are
crucial to ensure the protection of the democratic process within SLC and the
broader principle upheld by the ICC and preserving the principles of cricket
administration and protecting the reputation of the sport in our nation.”
Copies of the letter were marked to other members of
the Board, including Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI), and addressed to Greg Barclay, the chair of the ICC.
On November 10, the ICC decided to suspend the SLC in response to this letter,
which had been preceded by two earlier letters.
Instances of government meddling with the Pakistan
Cricket Board, the Afghanistan Cricket Board, and Cricket South Africa had not
resulted in comparable measures from the ICC. On the other hand, an ICC
representative stated that the international organisation can only act upon a
member’s complaint. Silva has been given permission by the ICC to attend the
Board meeting on Tuesday, as was previously reported.
Upon suspending the SLC, the ICC stated, “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.”