The Int'l Cricket Council said that "it will withhold its next financial distribution due to Sri Lanka Cricket pending an investigation into possible government interference in Sri Lanka cricket," according to ESPN. SLC's board "had been dissolved by the government" last month and, on March 31, Sri Lankan Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake "appointed a nine-member interim committee, headed by Sidath Wettimuny, to run Sri Lanka cricket." The ICC board met on Thursday to discuss whether the appointment was a breach of the ICC's constitution, "which requires free and fair elections for office-bearers within Member boards." Until the issue is resolved, "the board also decided that the ICC would withhold the next financial distribution due to the SLC and instead hold it in an escrow account" (ESPN, 4/16). SUPERSPORT reported in other developments, the ICC said that it would establish a task force headed by ICC CEO David Richardson "to look into the work of the troubled USA Cricket Association after the board was decided it was "not satisfied that USACA is compliant with all of its obligations under the ICC membership criteria and constitution." USACA "has already been suspended twice by the ICC since the election of Gladstone Dainty as president" in June '03, with both suspensions following concerns about the validity of elections. Meanwhile, the ICC said that "it would not be appointing a replacement president to see out the final few weeks of Mustafa Kamal's term in office after the Bangladeshi resigned earlier this month" (SUPERSPORT, 4/16).
