Sri Lanka sports minister revokes sacking of cricket board over corruption charges

In a bid to end its suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC), Sri Lanka’s sports minister revoked the sacking of the country’s cricket board over allegations of corruption.

Harin Fernando’s decision paves the way for the ICC to end its sanctions on the board for failing to prevent ‘government interference’ in its administration of the game.

“I signed a gazette to revoke the decision appointing an interim committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, aiming to lift our ICC suspension,” posted Fernando on social media platform X (earlier known as Twitter).

Fernando has also asked the ICC for its observations on an audit report into alleged corruption by the board during the T20 World Cup last year in Australia.

ICC had suspended SLC due to government interference. The Sri Lanka government had sacked the SLC following the team’s disastrous show at the World Cup, where it lost seven of the nine games. SLC was reinstated by the court of appeal, thus further deepening the crisis in the country’s cricket governing body.