In a significant shakeup to one of South Asia’s most high-profile sporting institutions, the government of Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it has assumed full temporary administrative control of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the country’s richest sports governing body. The intervention is framed as a targeted step to clear the way for sweeping structural changes to address long-running dysfunction within the organization.
The SLC has faced sustained public and political scrutiny in recent years over widespread allegations of systemic corruption and mismanagement, issues that have coincided with disappointing on-field results for the national team. Most recently, Sri Lanka suffered an early elimination from the 2024 T20 World Cup, a tournament the island nation co-hosted alongside India earlier this year.
The move comes on the heels of the full resignation of SLC’s entire executive committee Tuesday, including four-time SLC president Shammi Silva, who stepped down ahead of the government’s formal takeover. According to an anonymous government source, former investment banker and opposition politician Eran Wickramaratne is widely expected to be appointed as the interim head of the reorganized governing board.
In an official statement, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports confirmed the order: “All administrative functions of Sri Lanka Cricket will be temporarily brought under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, effective today.” The ministry added that an independent special committee will be formed in the near future to diagnose ongoing problems in the domestic and national cricket ecosystem and roll out the planned structural reforms.
This is not the first time political intervention in Sri Lanka’s cricket governance has drawn international pushback. Between 2023 and 2024, the International Cricket Council (ICC), cricket’s global governing body, suspended Sri Lanka from international competition for two months specifically over accusations of improper government interference in SLC operations. Agence France-Presse has reached out to the ICC for official comment on the latest government takeover, with no immediate response as of publication.