ICC treats various teams differently, SLC has already complained: Minister

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera

Parliament, June 07 (Daily Mirror)- Admitting the fact that the Sri Lankan cricket team touring the USA for the T20 World Cup has faced inconveniences, Sports Minister Harin Fernando said Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has already lodged a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) over the matter.

Responding to a question by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, he said the ICC has treated Cricket Boards in various countries differently.

"Not only had the Sri Lankan team wait for about seven hours to take a flight as reported, the Ireland and South Africa teams also had faced a similar ordeal. Cricket Boards in various countries have been treated differently by the ICC. For example, the Bangladesh team is the first team that has to travel the most number of kilometres and the Sri Lankan team is the second. SLC has already lodged a complaint with the ICC," he said.

The Minister said the ICC is hosting the T20 World Cup in the USA amidst many issues and added that the USA Cricket Board was facing a ban by the ICC at the moment.

He said the ICC had allowed the USA to host the tournament despite a ban and said Sri Lanka was not allowed to host the 2024 men's Under-19 World Cup due to the ICC ban.

The Minister said the ICC Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in July and that Sri Lanka will lobby its protest over the matter during this meeting.