Roshan Ranasinghe, the Sri Lanka’s sports minister, has reportedly sacked the entire Sri Lanka Cricket board (SLC) in the aftermath of their poor performance in the ongoing World Cup 2023. The news came just a day after the board’s second-highest officer, secretary Mohan de Silva, resigned.
Having reached the final of the Asia Cup 2023 a couple of months ago, overcoming Afghanistan and Pakistan, there were hopes and expectations among the Sri Lankan fans and the board about the team doing well in the World Cup 2023.
However, not only Sri Lanka have failed to reach the semi-final – for the third consecutive time in the ODI World Cup they will exit before the semi-final round – but their performances have been poor, which included losses to Afghanistan and Bangladesh, though a victory over defending champions England was a silver lining. But England, too, are positioned at the bottom of the points table at the time of writing.
Arjuna Ranatunga to head Sri Lanka board in interim capacity
Sri Lanka have won only 2 games – wins over England and the Netherlands – out of 8 matches. They started the tournament with 3 consecutive losses, before bouncing back with two wins, and then succumbed to three straight losses. It also included getting bowled out for 55 against India at the Wankhede.
The Sri Lanka sports minister is reportedly in talks to appoint an interim committee led by their 1996 World Cup-winning captain, Arjuna Ranatunga. Ranatunga is expected to act as Sri Lanka’s director in the next ICC Board meeting in a couple of weeks’ time.
For the unversed, under Sri Lanka’s Sports Law, the government has the power to dissolve the governing body of any sport – something which they have done multiple times with the SLC over the past two decades.
The sports minister has, a number of times, alleged the SLC board of “financial misappropriation and mismanagement,” said ESPNcricinfo.
Following Sri Lanka’s massive loss to India, Ranasinghe “had sent a letter to the other Full Member boards accusing SLC of mismanagement”. He also publically demanded the resignation of the entire board following their large-scale humiliation against India. “They should voluntarily resign,” he said.
“Sri Lanka Cricket has been besieged with complaints of player disciplinary issues, management corruption, financial misconduct and match-fixing allegations,” Ranasinghe said in his letter.
The Sri Lanka board has got further headaches for themselves after senior player Angelo Mathews publically fired shots against Shakib Al Hasan and the umpires for his Timed Out dismissal.
