Sri Lanka court restores sacked cricket board

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal quashed the sports minister’s decision to sack the country’s cricket board and restored the expelled officials on Tuesday pending a full hearing.

The court accepted a petition by board president Shammi Silva challenging minister Roshan Ranasinghe’s move on Monday to dismiss the Sri Lanka Cricket board and appoint an interim committee.

“The restoring of the board is for two weeks, when the court will hear the case again,” a court official said. Board officials said Silva was due to return to work after securing an order that prevented the interim committee — headed by former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga — from continuing in office.

The government has also appointed a cabinet committee to address “outstanding issues” of the board. The minister’s action followed a humiliating defeat by India at the World Cup.

Ranasinghe has been at loggerheads with Sri Lanka Cricket — the richest sports organisation on the financially stricken island — for months over allegations of widespread corruption.

The country’s 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Ranatunga had vowed to clean up the board and rebuild the national team after taking over on Monday.

“Sri Lanka Cricket had become known as the most corrupt institution in the country,” Ranatunga said on Monday. “I want to change that image.”