Is the Sports Minister fighting a losing battle?

Having suffered another set-back in his attempts to reform Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe has hinted, in a letter to the International Cricket Council (ICC), that he intends to take legal action against the current office bearers of SLC for financial misconduct while also asking for the sport's world governing body to recognize a new International Sports Coordination Committee on Cricket set-up by the Minister.  

The Minister formed the three-member committee last Tuesday – which included former national cricket captain and administrator Sidath Wettimuny, former SLC President Upali Dharmadasa and an individual by the name of Rajitha Nirmala Rajapakshe – and wrote to the ICC seeking a meeting between its officials and members of the committee.

The ICC rejected the Minister’s request stating, in a letter signed by its Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, that they would only meet the committee if had been endorsed by SLC, who they reiterated was the ICC’s contact point for all issues relating to cricket.

In response, the Minister wrote to the ICC on Saturday (September 30), asking for the requirement of that endorsement to be reconsidered, as the committee was formed to communicate “the financial misconduct and the recommended legal action against the current board of Sri Lanka Cricket,” and therefore did not want the endorsement of SLC.

The Minister cited the recent Audit Report prepared by the National Audit Office, that investigated SLC’s expenses during the T20 World Cup last year, which he said highlighted “the manner in which financial matters have been mishandled and subjected to blatant abuse.”

The appointment of this committee comes in the aftermath of the Court of Appeal issuing the Minister an interim order that prevented him from proceeding with a proposed new constitution for SLC.

The Minister appointed a ten-member committee earlier this year to draft the proposed new constitution, which the Minister had intended to bring through an Act of Parliament.

However, with SLC filing a writ application and that avenue being closed, it appears the Minister had opted to directly approach the ICC, which also was rebuffed.

The Minister has been at loggerheads with SLC since the Asia Cup was moved from Sri Lanka to Dubai last year – SLC arguing that they were compelled to at the behest of broadcasters and sponsors of the tournament, while the Minister alleged it was done so SLC officials could travel overseas on the institution’s finances.

The Minister had also reportedly toyed with the idea of dissolving the current SLC administration and appointing an interim committee following Sri Lanka’s exit from the T20 World Cup last year, but the ICC emphasized that it would not tolerate political interference in SLC.

It was in that aftermath that, and the news of some player indiscretions during the T20 World Cup, the Minister appointed a committee to inquire into how players and officials conducted themselves on that tour.

Among the findings of that committee, headed by retired High Court Judge Saroja Kusala Weerawardena, was that SLC had spent lavishly on the travel of its officials to Australia.

Those findings were forwarded to the Attorney General (AG) to determine if legal action could be taken, with the AG asking the Sports Miniter to request for a complete audit on SLC’s expenses during the World Cup.

Parallelly, SLC officials are believed to have informed the ICC of the possibility of political interference from the Minister, with the ICC appointing a three-member committee of its own, comprising Board of Control for Cricket in India Secretary Jay Shah, the Deputy Chair of the ICC Usman Khwaja and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan.

Earlier this year Khwaja visited Sri Lanka where he met the President, the Sports Minister and SLC officials, and encouraged the parties to work together towards forming a common pathway to address the issues in the country’s cricket administration.