The Sports Minister, Navin Dissanayake, says that the International Cricket Council (ICC) must accept the nine-member Interim Committee that he appointed to run Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after the ICC opted to withhold financial distribution on Thursday.
The 45-year-old, however, said that he will not hesitate to hold discussions with the ICC.
“We are a sovereign nation and we follow a set of rules and regulations when appointing such an Interim Committee. We have all the right to appoint an Interim Committee to run cricket in this country which is not illegal by any means. The ICC must accept this,” the minister said responding to the ICC claims.
ICC in a media statement made on Thursday said: “The ICC Board today considered the implications of the appointment of an Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) by the Government of Sri Lanka and whether this may be a breach of the ICC’s Constitution which requires free and fair elections for office-bearers within member boards.”
Dissanayake insisted that he hasn’t received any letter from the ICC although the main body of world cricket had released a statement to the media.
“Up until now I have not received any letter from the ICC. We have taken a decision to go with an Interim Committee and we will stand by that. Having said that, if the ICC does want to hold discussions we are quite happy to talk to them regarding this matter,” he said.
