Suspended Sri Lanka Cricket to introduce new law to curb political interference


The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), which was suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) due to “political interference”, will shortly draft a new rule outlawing any form of intervention by those with significant sway in the political system.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe created a cabinet subcommittee in November, which reported back to him on Monday with the required recommendations.

The subcommittee was formed after then-sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe tried to form an interim panel to manage the SLC, which was a clear violation of the ICC’s governance guidelines for member states.

The ICC swiftly suspended SLC, resulting in the Under-19 World Cup being moved to South Africa this month.

Wickremesinghe fired Ranasinghe and his successor, Harin Fernando, and later reversed the interim committee, preserving Shammi Silva’s elected administration.

During the crisis, Wickremesinghe stated that he would develop a new sports law to replace the 1973 statute, which granted the sports minister the authority to appoint interim committees.

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, who chaired the cabinet committee, stated that the group had evaluated the SLC’s current makeup and structure in order to propose modifications.

The troubled sports body has seen several administrators scramble for senior posts after the country’s World Cup victory in 1996, leading to the formation of many interim committees through political intervention while breaking ICC rules.

The current voting structure for office-bearers is frequently accused of facilitating vote-buying.

According to a press release, the committee investigated the reasons behind Sri Lanka’s present low place in worldwide rankings and identified measures to improve the game at the school, district, and provincial levels.