Sri Lanka sports minister revokes sacking of SLC in an effort to overturn ICC ban

Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister on Tuesday revoked the sacking of the country’s cricket board over allegations of corruption, with the board looking to overturn its ICC suspension. “I signed a gazette to revoke the decision appointing an interim committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, aiming to lift our ICC suspension,” Sports Minister Harin Fernando wrote on ‘X’.

Today, I signed a gazette to revoke the decision appointing an interim committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, aiming to lift our ICC suspension. I've also written to the ICC, seeking their observations on the Auditor General's report on SLC, and to the AG dept for future actions.

— Harin Fernando (@fernandoharin) December 12, 2023

News agency AFP reported that Fernando had also asked the ICC for observations on an audit report into alleged corruption by the board during the T20 World Cup last year in Australia. Fernando’s predecessor Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the elected board in November and appointed an interim panel headed by Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning skipper. The ICC suspended Sri Lanka as a result, saying the board had failed to prevent political interference in the administration of the game. The controversy over corruption in the board, the richest sporting body in the otherwise bankrupt nation, led to the sacking of Ranasinghe late last month. With inputs from AFP