The sports minister of Sri Lanka signed a notice to cancel the decision of appointing a temporary committee.
Sri Lankan players
On Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s sports minister, Harin Fernando, changed his mind about removing the country’s cricket board. He wants to address corruption allegations and lift the suspension imposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Fernando’s choice is a smart move to deal with the ICC’s worries about the government getting involved in the cricket board. This could open the door for the board to be reinstated. The ongoing situation, full of accusations and controversies, resulted in Fernando’s predecessor being removed. The former minister even said there was an assassination attempt by Sri Lanka’s president.
Fernando shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying, “I signed a notice to cancel the choice of a temporary committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, to lift our ICC suspension.”
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
He also mentioned that he asked the ICC for feedback on an audit report looking into claims of corruption by the board during the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.
At the moment, the ICC has not given an immediate response to Fernando’s moves. The previous sports minister, Roshan Ranasinghe, removed the elected board in November, accusing its leaders of serious corruption. The ICC reacted by suspending Sri Lanka, citing a failure to stop political interference.
The corruption dispute within the cricket board, a significant organization in Sri Lanka’s financially challenging situation, resulted in Ranasinghe being removed last month. The ex-sports minister had a disagreement with President Ranil Wickremesinghe about how Sri Lanka Cricket was being managed. He refused to overturn the board’s dismissal, as the president had requested.
