Hi there! Welcome to Episode 247 of Never on the Backfoot Podcast. The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Sri Lanka’s crisis-ridden cricket board earlier this month, saying it had failed to ensure there was no government interference in its affairs. The game’s world governing body said Sri Lanka Cricket was “in serious breach of its obligations as a member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and to ensure that there is no government interference.” The suspension came a day after Sri Lanka’s parliament asked the board to resign over allegations made by sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe that it had siphoned off millions of dollars. The update now is that Sri Lanka can compete in bilateral cricket and ICC tournaments but has been stripped of their hosting rights in the next edition of the ICC Men's U19 World Cup. In this episode, we discuss all that transpired and get to the root of the matter. On the podcast today to join us for this discussion, we have Estelle Vasudevan, a freelance journalist in Sports Media. The Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify for Podcasters, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many other platforms and spread the word. Check out @neveronthebackfoot on Instagram & Threads and @neverontheback1 on X for the latest facts, trivia, quizzes, and terminology. ?