The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the suspension of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Friday, November 10. The decision was made due, to what the ICC referred to as “government interference”.
Following a performance by the team at the World Cup, where they lost seven out of nine games, in the league stage and failed to reach the semi finals the Sri Lanka government had initially removed SLC from their position. However amidst growing controversy SLC was later reinstated by the court of appeal.
A combined government-opposition motion in parliament then called for the management of SLC to resign. The motion demanding SLC’s dismissal was subsequently unanimously approved by the parliament of Sri Lanka, with backing from both the opposition and the government party.
An ICC release on Friday issued an official statement about SLC’s suspension, stating:
“International Cricket Council Board has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership of the ICC with immediate effect.
“The ICC Board met today [Friday] 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.”
ICC Official
An entire member has been suspended by the ICC for the second time. Zimbabwe Cricket was likewise put on hold in 2021 as a result of government meddling.
Sri Lanka failed to impress in World Cup 2023
Of their nine league games, Sri Lanka won two and lost seven, making for a disastrous World Cup campaign. They lost against South Africa 102 runs in a high-scoring match at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium to start the tournament.
The Lankans lost to Australia by five wickets and Pakistan by six wickets in their next two games. They defeated the Netherlands by five wickets in Lucknow to record their first World Cup victory of 2023. They destroyed England by eight wickets in Bengaluru in their subsequent game.
Sri Lankas hopes in the competition were dashed after suffering four defeats. They were beaten by New Zealand losing by five wickets Afghanistan by seven wickets, India by a 302 runs and Bangladesh, by a margin of three wickets.
Positives from Sri Lanka’s poor campaign include the fact that Dilshan Madushanka is tied for first place in wicket-taking with 21 wickets, and that Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 373 runs in nine innings with a strike rate of 102.19 and an average of 53.29.
