(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The International Cricket Council (ICC) has asked Sri Lanka to hold elections for Sri Lanka Cricket board within six months. Failing to do so will result in ICC reconsidering Sri Lanka’s membership status in the ICC, the Council said in a statement.
Concluding its 75th Annual Conference in Dublin with strong sanctions for ball tampering and personal abuse on Monday, the ICC in a statement said the board will also allow a representative of Sri Lanka Sports Minister to the board as an observer.
“The Board agreed to allow a representative of the Sri Lankan Sports Minister to sit as an observer to the ICC Board and Full Council, but requested that elections for Sri Lanka Cricket are held within six months, failing which SLC�s Membership status would be considered,” the ICC statement said.
The five-day Annual Conference in Dublin with strong support for strengthening the ICC Code of Conduct has introduced a range of new offences.
“It is vital that there is a strong deterrent to both players and administrators to ensure we have high standards of conduct in our game. We have more than a billion fans and we must not give any of them any reason to doubt the high levels of integrity within our sport,” ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar has said.
The ICC Board fully supported the Chief Executives’ Committee and Cricket Committee recommended changes to the Code of Conduct. This includes the introduction of new offences and the change in level of some existing offences.
Among others, ‘Changing the condition of the ball’ has been made a Level 3 offence and the maximum sanction for a Level 3 offence has been increased from 8 suspension points to 12 suspension points (equivalent to 6 Test matches or 12 ODIs).
Several new code violations including Personal abuse, Audible obscenity, Disobeying an umpire’s instructions and Attempting to gain and unfair advantage (cheating, other than ball-tampering) have been introduced.
