International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket Board’s membership. The decision was taken at the ICC board meeting on Friday (November 10).
Sri Lanka’s membership has been suspended as an immediate response, the ICC said in a statement. The country got full membership of ICC in 1981.
The notification also said that the ICC Board in its meeting today decided that Sri Lanka has violated important restrictions as a cricket member. 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.
Meanwhile, the Lankan cricketer returned home today after the failed mission in the World Cup. At the moment the Lankans are ninth in the points table.
On the other hand, the corruption and interference of politicians in the country’s cricket board has been discussed for quite some time.
Earlier, Sri Lankan Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe had sacked all the board members due to the World Cup debacle. The country’s court reinstated them within 24 hours of this incident.
Two days later, the parliament of the country unanimously passed the proposal to dismiss the board members.
Then on Thursday (November 9) the main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa tabled a bill in Parliament titled ‘Withdrawal of the corrupt SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket Board) management’. Later the ruling party leader Nimal Siripala de Silva agreed to it. The final resolution was then passed.
In this regard, Premadasa said, the aim of this proposal is to make people aware of the corruption at the administrative level of the Cricket Board and to protect Lankan cricket from the hands of the corrupt. Premadasa feels that collective action is necessary to save the game for passionate fans.
