Sri Lanka cricket refuses to back down and hopes to host the Women’s Champions Trophy

Sri Lanka’s interim cricket administration is determined to implement sweeping reforms and retain the rights to host the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy, despite growing uncertainty over whether the tournament will be held in the country.

The six-team T20 competition is scheduled for February 2027, but concerns about political involvement in the running of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have raised the possibility of the International Cricket Council (ICC) moving the event to another location.

Interim committee chairman Eran Wickremaratna, who was appointed by Sri Lanka’s sports minister, said the governing body intends to overhaul the administration of the SLC at its most basic level.

“We are very committed to really fix from the ground up. We are not backing down,” Wickremaratna was quoted as saying by PTI.

This issue has already come up in discussions with the ICC. Interim committee member Prakash Schaffter revealed that the world governing body had indicated about two-and-a-half months ago that it was considering the possibility of hosting the tournament outside of Sri Lanka.

“Although they categorically did not tell us their decision because of the SLC management issues, we hope to be able to show them the steps we have taken so that they can even convince them to play it here,” Schaffter told reporters on Monday.

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who is also a member of the interim committee, stressed the importance of maintaining a strong working relationship with the ICC as the country attempts to address concerns about its cricket administration.

“We are going through the phase of formulating a new constitution and then we have an elected body,” Sangakkara said.

The current interim arrangement took over in April after the previous SLC management was instructed to step down following allegations of mismanagement and corruption.

The Minister of Sports subsequently set up a Transformation Committee to overhaul the composition of the Board of Directors and introduce changes in its management.

However, the proposed reforms come against the backdrop of the ICC’s long-standing position that governments should not interfere in the governance of its member cricket boards. Sri Lanka’s interim leaders are therefore scrambling to demonstrate that the planned changes can satisfy both the demands of domestic reform and the ICC’s governance expectations.

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Published on:

31 Aug 2026 16:05 IST