SLC halt domestic tournaments over issue with Sports Ministry
SLC
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Asalanka heroics power Sri Lanka to 49-run win over Australia
12 Feb 25
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Friday suspended all board-conducted domestic tournaments following a dispute with the Sports Ministry.
"Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to immediately halt all board-conducted domestic tournaments. This includes the ongoing Major Club 3-Day Tournament and also the Invitational Club Tier 'B' 3-Day Tournament,” SLC stated in a media release.
In June of this year, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) conducted a Special General Meeting (SGM) where they decided to implement changes suggested by the now defunct Technical Advisory Committee led by Aravinda de Silva in 2021. According to the decision made at the SGM, the bottom four clubs of the 2022 Major Club League tournament will be relegated from the top-tier league. As a result, the top-tier league will now be contested by 22 clubs.
This meant that the four relegated clubs would play in the Governor’s Trophy, a lower-tier limited overs tournament – a decision the teams appealed, as it would deprive them of the opportunity to play three-day matches, widely considered as a requirement to maintain the quality of cricket at club level.
SLC accepted the appeal and created another, lower tier to the Major Club League tournament – Tier B – for the four relegated clubs which would not be granted first class status, and to ensure a fair number of matches, invited six teams from the Governor’s Trophy to also participate in this league.
However, one of the lower ranked teams in the Governor’s Trophy, Gesto Sports Club, had challenged this decision in courts and with the Sports Ministry.
Following the appeal made by Gesto Sports Club, Sri Lanka's sports minister, Roshan Ranasinghe, would ratify the appeal, and the Director General of Sports would write to SLC on August 25, stating that any change to a tournament's structure could only happen through a change in the SLC's constitution. The Sports Law of Sri Lanka requires the approval of the sports minister for any amendments to SLC's constitution.
