ICC suspends membership of CAN
The International Cricket Council today suspended the membership of Cricket Association of Nepal after the board meeting reached the conclusion of government interference in Nepali cricket.
The world governing body accused the National Sports Council of leading Nepali cricket leadership into vacuum and said the suspension would remain “until such time as the CAN becomes free of government interference and is properly structured to begin exploiting the tremendous cricket talent and opportunities that exist in Nepal.”
The NSC had formed an ad hoc committee led by Ramesh Silwal in March, refusing to give recognition to the elected committee under Chatur Bahadur Chand.
NSC Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista had claimed of taking ICC consent before forming the ad hoc committee.
Chand-led faction then moved the Supreme Court against NSC decision and the apex court has sent the case to full bench hearing for May 22.
“In light of the ongoing court case involving the CAN and the ad hoc committee established by the NSC, which has led to a vacuum in cricket leadership in Nepal, the board suspended the membership of CAN for breach of Article 2.9 of the ICC’s Articles of Association, which prohibits government interference and requires free and fair elections,” the ICC said in a media release.
“The suspension means that CAN will not be entitled to receive any ICC funding. However, the board, in its absolute discretion and considering that the players should not suffer due to this suspension, decided that the Nepal cricket teams would be able to continue to feature in ICC events.
ICC management will also now work with the Nepal’s cricket community, and other stakeholders, in order to assist with the development of a sustainable governance and administration structure for cricket in Nepal,” added the release.
Saying there was no functional body in Nepali cricket, the ICC appointed Asia Development Manager Bandula Warnapura to look after the preparation of the ICC World Cricket League
Championship third round matches and nominated Venkatapathy Raju as the adviser of the independent selection panel.
