ICC's suspension of SLC 'illegal', says Sri Lanka sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe

Sri Lanka sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe on Saturday said his government would lodge a complaint with the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee over the “illegal” suspension of the country’s governing body for cricket. The ICC on Friday had suspended Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) citing political interference in its affairs. Ranasinghe had sacked the entire Shammi Silva-led board following Sri Lanka’s disastrous 302-run defeat against India in their ICC World Cup match in Mumbai. The board however, was restored by Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal, which overruled Ranasinghe’s drastic decision. “The ICC suspension of Sri Lanka is illegal. We have been maliciously suspended without giving us an opportunity to respond to the allegation,” Ranasinghe told reporters in the capital Colombo. He said the ICC had referred to “political interference” in Sri Lanka Cricket but had not specified the charges. “First, we must have the charges and then an opportunity to respond,” Ranasinghe said. “If we fail to get redress from the DRC, we will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.” The ICC said on Friday that Sri Lanka Cricket was “in serious breach of its obligations as a member”, highlighting “the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and to ensure that there is no government interference”. The suspension came a day after Sri Lanka’s parliament asked the board to resign over allegations by Ranasinghe that it had syphoned off millions of dollars. The ICC board will decide the suspension conditions later, it said in a brief statement. It was not immediately clear if the indefinite suspension would affect Sri Lanka hosting the Under 19 World Cup in January. The local board said Sri Lanka stands to lose a $2.4 million grant from the ICC to develop local venues if the 16-nation Under-19 tournament was scuttled due to the suspension. The crisis involving the cricket board — the richest sporting organisation in the bankrupt island country — came to a head after Sri Lanka’s humiliating World Cup defeat by India last week. Parliament unanimously asked Sri Lanka Cricket’s elected board members to resign on Thursday, accusing them of unprecedented corruption. The board is now locked in litigation after it was sacked by the sports minister on Monday, only to be restored the following day by the Court of Appeal pending a hearing in two weeks. The ICC has rules against political interference and has suspended Sri Lanka before. With inputs from AFP