The terms of Sri Lanka’s cricket suspension will be decided by the ICC, with the board meeting on November 21; the country is set to host the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in January 2024

The International Cricket Council has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership of the ICC with immediate effect.

The ICC Council met on Friday and ruled that Sri Lanka Cricket was in serious breach of its obligations as a member, and in particular “the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and to ensure that the government does not interfere in the management, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka”.

The terms of the suspension will be decided by the ICC, with the board meeting on November 21, after which the way forward is expected to be clearer.

Sky Sports News understands that on Monday Sri Lanka’s sports minister recalled the entire cricket board and set up an interim committee headed by World Cup winner Arjuna Ranatunga. However, it also contained two sons of politicians.

On Tuesday, this temporary committee was dissolved by the courts, while the old council was reinstated.

Under Sri Lanka’s own Sports Act, the government has the power to dissolve the governing body of any sport. However, the ICC has taken a dim view of it in the past, dating back to 2014, when the Sri Lankan government last appointed the committee.

Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday issued a statement denying allegations by the government that it mishandled preparations for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be held in January 2024. On Thursday, they issued another statement denying allegations of a $2 million transfer from his accounts to the accounts of third parties.

In July 2019, the ICC suspended Zimbabwe from all forms of cricket due to concerns about government interference in the running of the game, lifting the ban almost three months later after meetings with the country’s government and Zimbabwe Cricket.

Sri Lanka are also scheduled to tour England next summer for a three-Test series.

World Cup in Sri Lanka ends with a whimper

Sri Lanka qualified for the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup in India but lost their final group game to New Zealand by five wickets on Wednesday, leaving them ninth in the table after two wins from nine.

Barring heavy losses by England, Pakistan or Bangladesh against Australia – both matches are played on Saturday – Sri Lanka are likely to remain in the bottom two rungs of the table and outside the top eight qualification spots for the 2025 Champions Trophy, another ICC event.

Sri Lanka’s two wins in the tournament came against the Netherlands and defending champions England as Jos Buttler’s side suffered a shock eight-wicket loss in Bangalore after being bowled out for 156.

In the later defeat to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews was given the dubious honor of becoming the first player to be timed out in international cricket when Shakib-Al-Hasan appealed that he was not ready to face his opener within the required two minutes. coming out to bat.

Mathews, who attributed the delay to a broken helmet strap, called Shakib’s actions “disgraceful” and accused the Bangladesh skipper and his team of spoiling the game.

What’s happening and what’s next for cricket in Sri Lanka?

Fidel Fernando, Sri Lankan cricket correspondent for Sky Sports News:

“What is happening needs an explanation from the ICC. The ICC Council is made up of members of representative cricket boards from all over the world. Sri Lanka is one of them.

“Shammi Silva, the president of Sri Lanka, is one of the members of the ICC Council. The ICC Council was convinced to take a shot at the Sri Lankan government because the ICC does not want member councils to interfere with or interfere with their governments and that was the case, or that’s what the sri lankan government tried to do in the last week, the ICC doesn’t want that to happen.

“Silva was briefly suspended for this intervention and then reinstated by the courts, which convinced the ICC Board to suspend Sri Lankan cricket on warning. There are currently no very serious, tangible, immediate consequences for Sri Lankan cricket itself.”

“When you read the word suspension, and I think that was chosen as a word, people will panic a bit and wonder if your team is fit to play. But there is no cricket scheduled in Sri Lanka for the next month or so.” There is a home tournament in December, but nothing for the men’s and women’s tournaments for a while, so I think this is a good time to do it.

“The ICC has sent a message and nothing is happening in terms of matches in the near future.

“Now it’s up to the Sri Lankan government, which is divided and has many agendas. We’ll have to wait and see what their response is, but I suspect the ICC’s move here may be somewhat successful in deterring the government’s move.”

“SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) has had an interim board before and the ICC has never done this kind of suspension. They have never done this sanction even though they have had this kind of intervention from governments before.”

“This is something new and we’re treading new ground here so we’ll have to wait and see, but I suspect the government will be sufficiently deterred and the new cycle will shift sufficiently as the Sri Lankan men’s team crashes. burning in the World Cup, so this dominated the news cycle. Once that stops happening, the government will care less about the details in SLC.”