- Sri Lanka sacks cricket board days after World Cup thrashing
- Sri Lanka’s sports minister, Roshan Ranasinghe, on November 6 took the decision to dismiss the national cricket board following the team’s disappointing performance at the World Cup.
- Arjuna Ranatunga, who captained the Sri Lankan cricket team to victory in the 1996 World Cup, has been named as the interim chairman of the board,
- The new seven-member panel also includes a retired Supreme Court judge and a former board president.
- Ranasinghe, in his statement, held the selection committee and the SLC administration responsible for the team’s poor performance in the tournament.
- The humiliating defeat against India has sparked public outrage and led to calls for changes in the administration of Sri Lanka Cricket.
- Ranasinghe has been at loggerheads with Sri Lanka Cricket, the richest sports organization in the financially stricken country for months over allegations of widespread corruption.
Sri Lanka’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the national cricket board on Monday, days after a humiliating defeat by India at the World Cup. Ranasinghe has been at loggerheads with Sri Lanka Cricket — the richest sports organization on the financially stricken island — for months over allegations of widespread corruption.
The country’s 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga has been appointed chairman of a new interim board, Ranasinghe’s office said in a statement. “Sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe has formed an interim committee for Sri Lanka Cricket,” the statement said.
The new seven-member panel also includes a retired Supreme Court judge and a former board president. The move came a day after the board’s second-highest officer, secretary Mohan de Silva, quit.
The defeat prompted a public outcry and police have been deployed outside the board office in Colombo since angry protests on Saturday. Ranasinghe had said that Sri Lanka Cricket officials had no moral or ethical right to remain in office. “They should voluntarily resign,” he said. He had previously accused the board of being “traitorous and corrupt”.
Sri Lanka play Bangladesh later on Monday and needs a mathematical miracle if they are to squeeze into the last four of the World Cup.
On Saturday Ranasinghe wrote to full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) — which has rules against political interference in the sport — asking for understanding and support. “Sri Lanka Cricket has been besieged with complaints of player disciplinary issues, management corruption, financial misconduct, and match-fixing allegations,” Ranasinghe said in the letters, released to Sri Lankan media.
The minister was forced by the ICC to withdraw a three-member panel he had appointed last month to investigate alleged corruption at the board after it was deemed to be political interference. There was no immediate reaction from the ICC to Ranasinghe’s latest move, which dismissed a board that was elected in May, with president Shammi Silva on his third consecutive term.
A former sports minister, Harin Fernando, introduced tough anti-corruption laws in 2019 after saying that the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world’s most corrupt cricketing nations.
The Sri Lankan cricket team’s last World Cup victory in 1996 stands out as a moment of pride in the nation’s cricket history. The current state of Sri Lankan cricket, marked by the team’s recent poor performances, has prompted criticism of the national cricket board for not maintaining the high standards and success achieved in the past.
(With inputs from agencies)
