COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will appeal its suspension from the International Cricket Council over alleged political interference in the local board, sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe said on Saturday, following the national team’s dismal World Cup performance.

Ranasinghe said the world governing body’s action on Friday night against his country was “illegal” and would appeal to the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee.

Sri Lanka’s ministry of sport moved to dismiss the SLC board and replace it with an interim committee in the wake of the country’s poor World Cup performance, but the country’s Court of Appeal has put that move on hold.

In addition, the parliament in Colombo last Thursday unanimously adopted a proposal to remove the SLC leadership.

Speaking on Saturday, Ranasinghe denied that there was political interference in the running of Sri Lankan cricket, however, and said the ICC move had been made without any consultation.

“This is not the way. When ICC or any other body apply a ban they have a long procedure but this was a surprise, and it is not ethical,” Ranasinghe told reporters

“How can they condemn our country like this? We have been maliciously suspended without giving us an opportunity to respond to the allegation.

“First, we must have the charges and then an opportunity to respond,” Ranasinghe said. If we fail to get redress from the DRC, we will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.”

SLC officials separately denied corruption allegations and said they would work with Ranasinghe to get the ICC suspension lifted.

It was not immediately clear if the indefinite suspension would affect Sri Lanka hosting the Under 19 World Cup in January.

The ICC has rules against political interference and has suspended Sri Lanka before.

Sri Lanka won only two of their nine games at the World Cup. They sit ninth in the 10-team standings and are out of the competition.

Following the resignation of SLC secretary Mohan de Silva and the sacking of the board, Ranasinghe said he had replaced them with an interim committee chaired by World Cup-winning former captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

But ousted SLC President Shammi Silva went to court to fight the dismissal and has been granted a two-week stay order, with a full hearing to follow.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2023