Image Credit- ICC
According to a statement released by the organisation
on Sunday night, the ICC Board has immediately lifted the temporary suspension
placed on Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
SLC was suspended on November 10 for being in
“serious breach of its obligations as an ICC Member”. Specifically,
this had to do with “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”.
The ICC Board said it had been monitoring the
situation since the suspension and “are now satisfied that SLC are no
longer in breach of membership obligations”.
The men’s Under-19 World Cup, which is presently
taking place, was moved from Sri Lanka to South Africa immediately following
the suspension. Apart from that, there was no direct impact on how cricket was
played in Sri Lanka, and the ICC Board had decided that the suspension would
not affect cricket at all levels, including domestic and bilateral series and
competitions. The annual funding for the ICC would be under control until the
suspension is removed.
Since then, in early 2024, Sri Lanka has been hosting
Zimbabwe for a white-ball series. The SLC board was dismissed by Roshan
Ranasinghe, Sri Lanka’s minister of sports, at the beginning of November.
Arjuna Ranatunga led an interim committee in its place. However, a day later,
the courts in Sri Lanka restored the board by placing a 14-day stay order on
the dissolution notice published in the official gazette.
Nonetheless, the elected SLC Board was in charge of
overseeing cricket in the nation when the ICC suspended play. SLC became the
second Full Member to face an ICC suspension in the recent past, following
Zimbabwe Cricket’s suspension in 2019 for comparable offences.