The ICC have suspended Sri Lanka from all international cricket, after the country’s sports minister said he would not allow the team to play against Israel.
Sri Lanka has been banned from all international cricket for a year by the International Cricket Council (ICC), after its sports minister said he would not allow the country’s national team to play against Israel. The ICC have responded by suspending Sri Lanka from all international cricket, including both Test and limited-overs matches. The suspension will remain in place until October 2020, meaning that Sri Lanka is banned from playing in the ICC World T20 tournament next year. It also means that Sri Lanka will not be able to play any of their scheduled matches against Zimbabwe and South Africa this month.
Why was Sri Lanka banned?
In August 2019, Sports Minister Harin Fernando told reporters that “the government will not give permission for our national cricket team to play with Israeli players”. He made his comments while on a trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are both currently at loggerheads with Israel over a variety of issues. However, Harin Fernando did say that he would consider an exemption if it was granted by the government of Israel itself.
Why is Sri Lanka being punished?
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to punish Sri Lanka for refusing to take part in games against teams they deem as having diplomatic ties with their enemy Israel. This is despite assurances given by Sports Minister Harin Fernando that he would consider an exemption if it were granted by the Israeli government itself.
