Why has the ICC suspended Sri Lanka Cricket?
The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Friday, November 10, suspended Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The governing body of the game took the decision citing “government interference”.
The Sri Lanka government sacked SLC after the national team's poor show at the World Cup, where it lost seven of the nine games that it played in the league stage and failed to qualify for the semi-finals. SLC was, however, reinstated by the court of appeal, as the controversy deepened.
Subsequently, a joint government and opposition resolution in parliament demanded the resignation of SLC's management. Sri Lanka's parliament then unanimously passed the resolution, calling for the sacking of SLC, with both the ruling and opposition parties supporting it.
An official ICC statement over SLC’s suspension read:
"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 statement added.
"The conditions of the suspension will be decided by the ICC Board in due course," the ICC statement on the matter concluded.
This is the second time that the ICC has handed a suspension to a full member. Back in 2021, Zimbabwe Cricket was also suspended due to government interference.
Sri Lanka’s disappointing performance in the 2023 World Cup
Sri Lanka had a disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign, winning two and losing seven of their nine league matches. They began the tournament with a 102-run loss to South Africa in a high-scoring encounter at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
In subsequent matches, the Lankans went down to Pakistan by six wickets and Australia by five wickets. They registered their first win of the 2023 World Cup by defeating the Netherlands by five wickets in Lucknow. In their next match, they hammered England by eight wickets in Bengaluru.
Sri Lanka, however, exited the tournament with four consecutive losses. They went down to Afghanistan by seven wickets, India by 302 runs, Bangladesh by three wickets, and New Zealand by five wickets.
Looking at positives for Sri Lanka from the disappointing campaign, Dilshan Madushanka is the joint-leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets, while Sadeera Samarawickrama scored 373 runs in nine innings at an average of 53.29 and a strike rate of 102.19.