But athough the ICC had sent deputy chair Imran Khwaja on what was effectively a fact-finding trip to Colombo in May, no sanctions attributed to government interference have followed, even after the latest ICC meeting.
The latest, sweeping administrative changes in Sri Lanka, which includes the ousting of the elected board and the installation of a committee tasked ostensibly with transforming Sri Lankan cricket, have so far only drawn ICC scrutiny rather than tangible consequences. The ICC statement said only this: “In Sri Lanka, ICC Deputy Chair Imran Khwaja and Devajit Saikia (BCCI) have visited and met with relevant stakeholders to assess ongoing developments.”
The Transformation Committee headed by Eran Wickramaratne has repeatedly expressed that its goal remains to rewrite an outdated SLC constitution, in order to better align the organisation with the requirements of Sri Lanka’s public.
“Even in the debates in parliament, which were not driven by party loyalties, it has been acknowledged that there has to be a change at Sri Lanka Cricket,” said Wickramaratne, chair of the new Transformation Committee and a former politician. “The job we have is to change the SLC constitution. The stakeholders in that change are the Sri Lankan people. The people can give their ideas. Other stakeholders can also express their ideas. We thought our first role is to listen to those ideas.”
SLC hopes Transformation Committee members will be invited to future ICC meetings.
ESPNcricinfo has reached out to the ICC for comment on SLC participation in meetings, but the ICC is yet to respond.
