Sports Minister and his advisors are responsible for Sri Lanka’s suspension says SLC

Sri Lanka Cricket President Shammi Silva addresses the media at SLC headquarters yesterday. SLC Treasurer Sujeewa Godaliyadde, Vice President Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa, Vice President Ravin Wickramaratne, Acting Secretary Chryshantha Kapuwatte and SLC CEO Ashley de Silva are also present at the head table 

• Sri Lanka escapes a total ban from international cricket
• Allowed to play bilateral series with other nations
• Country set to lose around $ 100 million on hosting rights for U19 WC and ICC annual conference being taken away

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) hierarchy held the Sports Minister and his advisors responsible for the country getting suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and losing the hosting rights of the Under19 World Cup in January and the ICC annual conference in July next year. 

The ICC on 10 November suspended SLC membership of the ICC as it was in serious breach of its obligations as a member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka. 

SLC President Shammi Silva who attended the ICC meeting held in Ahmedabad said that due to the suspension he was admitted to the meeting, only as an observer. Apprising the media of what took place at the meeting Silva stated: “ICC Chair Greg Barclay who is also the New Zealand Cricket’s appointment to the Board of ICC and connected to rugby said that it was not only cricket, but Sri Lanka had also been suspended by the IRB. Another ICC representative also brought it to the notice of ICC that football in Sri Lanka had also suffered the same fate being suspended by FIFA. Imran Khawaja who came to Sri Lanka as an ICC representative said that he had spoken to the Sports Minister of Sri Lanka and during the conversation it came to light that the Minister did not understand how the ICC works. The ICC said that if we cannot resolve the issue they had to take this stance of suspending Sri Lanka. They cited Zimbabwe as an example. They said that until Sri Lanka removes the interim committee, the ICC will not lift the suspension. The decisions were taken by the rest of the ICC members who unanimously decided that we should be suspended and that the U19 World Cup should be held elsewhere. The meeting went on for about 45 minutes.”  

“However I appealed to the ICC to allow us to host the U19 World Cup but they said that a suspended country cannot host any ICC tournaments. It was handed to South Africa to host it. Even the annual ICC conference scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in July is in doubt.”

When asked how much Sri Lanka would lose in terms of foreign exchange by not hosting the two events, Silva said that it would be around $ 100 million.

However, Sri Lanka’s U19 cricketers who have been preparing for this world event for months will have the opportunity to take part in the U19 World Cup in South Africa in January as well as the U19 Asia Cup which is to be held in Bangladesh in December. 

“The ICC also wanted to withhold the funding,” said Silva. “I told them not to do that but to give us a controlling fund where we will send them the costs incurred to be reimbursed. They agreed to that request. When it came to cricket, I asked the ICC to allow us to play cricket otherwise, the game would collapse totally because it is followed like a religion in the country. The ICC agreed to that request too but said that they will have to take a decision in the future after reviewing what happens in the country. For now we will be allowed to play bilateral series with other countries but not be able to host any ICC tournaments.”

Silva revealed that someone had sent to the ICC the SLC’s auditor general report. “After studying it the ICC said at the meeting that there was nothing wrong with the AG’s report as they had also got it reviewed by their audit department. The ICC is also accepting the fact that there hasn’t been any fraud involved.” 

Silva assured that Sri Lanka’s domestic and international cricket will go on as usual without any hindrance and payments to its employees, coaches, staff, players etc. will be made as usual. “We are updating the ICC on how we are using their funds so there won’t be any problem.”

When it was pointed out that in previous instances the ICC had conducted its tournaments under interim committees, Silva replied, “Earlier it was allowed but after Zimbabwe was suspended in July 2019 the ICC brought a new clause, Article 2.4 that no member body of the ICC should be governed by an interim committee.” 

“We have been updating the ICC with what is happening with cricket in Sri Lanka because we are bound by the ICC as a full member. If the Sports Minister is alleging that the ICC is acting on the information that I am sending to them, then I must be quite a powerful person in the world body,” said Silva.

Citing an example how SLC has been harassed by the Sports Minister, Silva said, “If an international tournament is to be held in Sri Lanka we have to get the permission of the Sport Minister. On 3 August we wrote to the Minister seeking his approval for the ICC Under19 World Cup, but sad to say until today, we have not received a reply from him. This is how the Minister operates on the advice of his advisors who should take full blame for the current state of affairs. This harassment began not yesterday or today but about nine months ago.”