(Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal restored the country’s cricket board on Tuesday, staying sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe’s decision to sack them.
Ranasinghe had replaced the board with an interim committee on Monday after a disappointing World Cup campaign, amid protests calling for the resignation of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials.
Ousted SLC President Shammi Silva petitioned the court against the dismissal and was granted a two-week stay order, with a full hearing to follow.
The matter was also discussed in Sri Lanka’s parliament on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka’s team wind up their World Cup campaign against New Zealand today.
Sri Lanka’s assistant coach Naveed Nawaz described the developments back home as a “challenging time” but that they were focused on the final game with a Champions Trophy spot also at stake.
The top seven sides qualify for the Champions Trophy along with hosts Pakistan. Sri Lanka are currently ninth with four points — the same as England, Bangladesh and the Netherlands. All teams have one more game left.
“We should control the controllables right now. The only control that we have in this tournament is the game tomorrow,” Nawaz told reporters.
“During the team meetings and whatever discussions we had amongst the coaching group as well as the players was to focus on that.
“We cannot focus on the matches that we have played and finished or we cannot focus on anything which is happening back home. The way to go forward is to put our energies, our focus on the game tomorrow and try and do the best to our ability.”
