Bipin Dani
The International Cricket Council decision to suspend the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has not gone down well in Sri Lanka.
“Our board (SLC) should take up this matter immediately and appeal to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) in Switzerland”, said renowned lawyer Chrismal Warnasuriya.
Speaking exclusively over the telephone minutes after the news came in, the lawyer, who has fought for several cricketers in the past, said, “the ICC board can’t take this decision. The cricket in this country is being monitored by the government and no way the ICC can interfere in this matter”.
In September 2022 Warnasuriya was admitted as Counsel to the International Criminal Court.( ICC). Since January 2023 he has also been practicing in the United Kingdom as In-House Counsel.
Elaborating the case further, the lawyer added, “the step-motherly treatment is being given to the SLC. The Indian cricket board was also governed by the government appointee Lodha Panel and this Lodha Panel ran the game for many months in India. The ICC had never suspended the BCCI. Then why the SLC this time ?”.
It has not been the first time the SLC is being run by the interim committee and there was not a single instance when the board was suspended.
“It will be in the best interest of cricket in Sri Lanka if the case is filed against the ICC in the CAS”. The CAS is an independent institution, based in Lausanne, involved in resolving legal disputes in the field of sport. The CAS is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration.
