COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s sports minister on Tuesday revoked the sacking of the country’s cricket board over allegations of corruption, in an effort to end its suspension by the International Cricket Council.

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.

It is the latest episode in an affair that also prompted the sacking of Fernando’s predecessor, who accused Sri Lanka’s president of an assassination attempt.

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

Fernando said he had 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.

There was no immediate comment from the ICC. Fernando’s predecessor Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the elected board in November after accusing office-bearers of gross corruption, a charge they have denied and are challenging in court.

The ICC suspended Sri Lanka as a result, saying the board had failed to prevent political interference.

The controversy over corruption in the board, the richest sporting body in the otherwise bankrupt nation, led to Ranasinghe’s sacking late last month.

Ranasinghe had been at loggerheads over the running of Sri Lanka Cricket with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, refusing the latter’s demands to revoke the sacking of the board.

‘IF I AM ASSASSINATED’

Ranasinghe told parliament last month that he feared for his life over his work “to clean up the cricket board”.

“If I am assassinated on the road, the president and his chief of staff will be responsible,” he had said.

After the ICC issued its ban in November, Sri Lanka lost the hosting rights for next month’s Under-19 World Cup, which has since been shifted to South Africa.

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

This time Sri Lanka Cricket’s elected members said the suspension cost the country a $2.4 million ICC grant to develop venues to host the 16-nation tournament.

The ICC ban still allowed Sri Lanka to proceed with bilateral tournaments, with Zimbabwe scheduled to visit Colombo next month for three ODIs and three T20 matches.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2023