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International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Geoff Allardice met with the new Sri Lanka Sports Minister Harin Fernando during a brief visit to the country to gain a better understanding of the political situation and how it relates to cricket administration.
In November, the ICC imposed a suspension on SLC membership and stripped them of the hosting rights of the Men's Under 19 World Cup this year, as per ESPNCricinfo. Following his meeting with Allardice, Sports Minister Harin Fernando posted on X (formerly Twitter) that they had a "constructive discussion and a way forward for SLC". After that meeting, Allardice also met President Ranil Wickremesinghe, with whom he discussed potential changes to the SLC constitution. Now, Allardice will report his findings to the ICC board, which will meet in March-end. They are likely to have the matter of SLC's ICC membership on the agenda. ICC's suspension of SLC had officially been predicated on perceived government interference. On November 6, previous Sports Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe wanted to sack the entire SLC board, but the judiciary essentially reversed that decision the next day and issued a stay order on the minister's gazette. Several days later, the ICC board suspended SLC at the behest of officials of the cricket's governing body in Sri Lanka, which was at odds with Ranasinghe and had requested the suspension to end any sort of political interference. With that minister sacked and the new minister palatable to SLC occupying the chair, the board members are confident that SLC will soon regain its full membership by the next board meeting. This is the second trip to Sri Lanka by an ICC executive. Earlier, in mid-2023, ICC deputy chair Imran Khawaja came to the Islan nation for an investigation of potential government interference in SLC and did not find any direct evidence proving the same. (ANI)
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