Sri Lanka Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe sacked amid SLC crisis
Sri Lanka president Ranil Wickremesinghe sacked Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe on Monday (November 27). He announced the decision in a cabinet meeting.
The move comes weeks after Ranasinghe had suspended the entire Sri Lanka Cricket board following their 302-run defeat to India in the 2023 World Cup.
He further appointed 1996 World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga as chair of an interim committee comprising seven members, including a retired Supreme Court judge.
As per Daily Mirror, the interim board stands as “temporally suspended.” The Court of Appeal issued the order following a writ petition by SLC President Shammi Silva. The order is valid for 14 days.
SL PM Wickremesinghe didn’t like the move by Ranasinghe and rebuked him for his decision to replace the SLC board. Back then, Ranasinghe had said in Parliament:
“President Ranil Wickremesinghe told me that if the Cricket Interim Committee is not removed, the Sports Act will be brought under him. I said that the committee will not be removed, I had told the President to remove me from the ministry.”
ICC suspended Sri Lanka Cricket board amid political turmoil: All you need to know
For the unversed, the International Cricket Council suspended the SLC following the political move on November 10. The ICC said:
“The ICC Board met today 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.”
However, the ICC allowed Sri Lanka to compete in international and bilateral cricket following a hearing representative from the SLC.
The funding, though, will be controlled by the ICC, and Lanka can no longer host the upcoming 2024 U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, which has been moved to South Africa.
In a recent statement, the ICC said:
"After hearing representation from SLC, the ICC Board decided that Sri Lanka can continue to compete internationally both in bilateral cricket and ICC events after being suspended recently for breaching its obligations as a Member in particular the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and without government interference."
Sri Lanka registered just two wins in nine games at the 2023 World Cup. They failed to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy by finishing outside the top-seven.