Sri Lanka to host ICC AGM after lifting of ICC's ban

Sri Lanka Sports Minister Harin Fernando confirmed on Thursday, February 1, that the country will host the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in July. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was suspended by ICC after the ODI World Cup for government interference in its functioning but their ban was lifted recently in January. 

Notably, they were suspended after Roshan Ranasinghe, the predecessor of Fernando, appointed an interim committee, after the marquee tournament in India. The committee was headed by the 1996 World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, who eventually alleged SLC for corruption.      

Soon after that, ICC declared Ranasinghe's action of appointing an interim committee illegal and a serious breach of its governance rules. It also cost them the right to host the ongoing U19 World Cup, which eventually was shifted to South Africa. Meanwhile, Fernando is excited to host the upcoming AGM as he mentioned that the meeting will take place from July 19-July 22 in Colombo and will be a great boost to their cricket and tourism industry. 

“Sri Lanka gets to host the ICC AGM from July 19-22 in Colombo. This will be a great boost for Sri Lanka with regards to cricket and tourism,” Fernando said in a statement. 

Sri Lanka to host Afghanistan for one-off Test

After the white-ball series against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka will resume their cricketing affairs with a one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting February 2. The anticipation for the match is quite high as this is the first time in history that these two teams will face each other in red-ball cricket. 

Sri Lanka have called up uncapped right-arm seamers Chamika Gunasekara and Milan Rathnayake to the squad while Afghanistan too named two uncapped players. Rashid Khan will miss the series as he is still recovering from injury while the pressure will be on batters, who looked extremely ordinary in their last Test match against Bangladesh in 2023.