President to study letters sent by SLC to ICC

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is to study three letters sent by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) to the International Cricket Council (ICC) which led to the ICC suspending Sri Lanka.

Responding to a statement made in Parliament today by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, the President said that he will study the three letters and requested copies.

Premadasa told the President that the letters have been tabled in Parliament.

He requested the Parliament Secretary General to hand over copies of the letters to the President.

Premadasa appealed to the President to listen to Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe on the cricket issue.

The President said that the ban on Sri Lanka was a result of a dispute between two groups.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) led by Shammi Silva recently admitted it had complained to the International Cricket Council over the interference by Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, which eventually led by the ban on SLC by the ICC.

The SLC said that it has a duty, as a full member of the ICC, to keep the ICC informed of any difficulties it has in carrying out its obligations towards the ICC.

SLC said that following the appointment of Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe there has been continuous undue interference in the governance and operational matters of the SLC.

SLC said that the interference by the Sports Minister made it difficult for SLC to run its day-to-day affairs.

As a result, SLC brought it to the attention of the ICC that the interference by the Minister was preventing it from honoring the obligations of the ICC.

According to SLC, the ICC had then issued multiple warnings to Sri Lanka and since the warnings were ignored the ICC eventually suspended Sri Lanka Cricket. (Colombo Gazette)