Sri Lanka cricket fans will be deprived the opportunity to witness another ICC world event due to constant government intervention
- Lose rights to host an ICC world event for second time in three years
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Well, it was not long in coming – the withdrawal of hosting rights by the ICC from Sri Lanka for the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy in February next year.
By removing Sri Lanka as hosts the ICC has in no uncertain terms sent a strong message that it brooks no nonsense when it comes to government interference with its member countries.
Sri Lanka are not new to this stand the ICC usually takes when an elected body is replaced by a government appointed interim committee.
The latest move by the ICC only shows that Sri Lanka has still not learnt their lessons yet, but continues to dissolve or apply government pressure for the elected body to step down and replace it with an interim committee.
Amongst the ICC full member countries, Sri Lanka must rank as one of the countries with the largest number of government appointed interim committees. The current one which is in place is the 12th since the first was appointed in 1999.
Although Shammi Silva and his team will be having the last laugh it is certainly no laughing matter when you take the seriousness of being deprived of hosting a world cricket event. Just look at the repercussions that it has on Sri Lanka Cricket and the country financially and otherwise?
True, changes to the Sri Lanka Cricket constitution may have to be made, but at what cost?
This is the second time in three years Sri Lanka has lost the rights to host an ICC world event. In 2023, the then Sports Minister dissolved the elected administration and replaced it with an interim committee. The move didn’t go down well with the ICC who took away the hosting rights of the Under19 Men’s Cricket World Cup and moved it to South Africa.
It is not every country that gets the privilege from the ICC to host a world event, and Sri Lanka simply don’t seem to understand the gravity of it.
If the former Sports Minister was to blame for losing the rights of hosting the Under19 men’s cricket World Cup in 2023, the present government and its Sports Minister should take the blame for the latest debacle in Sri Lanka Cricket’s chequered administrative history. It is they who wanted the elected body of Shammi Silva to resign to make way for the appointment of a Transformation Committee headed by a former Cabinet Minister Eran Wickramaratne on the pretext of drawing up a new constitution for SLC and cleaning up its Augean stables.
What we learn is that the new constitution has been handed to the Minister of Sports and it is in the process of being translated into the three languages. It has to go through the legal process before it is presented to Parliament. All this takes time and the ICC is not going to wait until the new constitution is put in place and elections are held. The Transformation Committee will be into its fifth month in September since being appointed in April.
Now that another opportunity to host an ICC World event has been lost, the next best thing for the government to do is to fast track the SLC constitution and ensure that elections are held as early as possible.
Apart from losing the rights to host the Women’s Champions Trophy, Sri Lanka would not want the ICC to withhold the funds that are due to them annually if they continue to administer the country’s cricket through a government controlled committee. Currently, Sri Lanka Cricket has no sitting representation at any ICC board meetings and that alone is a clear indication of what lies ahead for the island nation.
