Shammi Silva has been re-elected as the president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) at the 64th annual general meeting of the governing body held in Colombo on Monday. (More Cricket News)
He was elected uncontested to steer the governing body for the 2025-27 term, the SLC said.
This marks his fourth consecutive term as president, and the third time he has been elected uncontested.
Silva is widely seen as an ally of India’s Jay Shah, the current boss of the ICC. He had replaced Shah as the president of the Asian Cricket Council in December last year.
Silva’s tenure was marred by his clash with the then sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe in 2023. The minister’s appointment of an interim committee, in the aftermath of Sri Lanka heavy defeat to India in the 2023 World Cup, led to Sri Lanka’s suspension from the ICC.
As an immediate fallout of the ICC suspension, the under-19 Men’s World Cup scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in January last year was shifted to South Africa.
The sports minister was later sacked, and the court reinstated Silva's SLC administration.
Since Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup, the cash-rich body’s positions have become a matter of prestige for local business leaders.
There has been much acrimony at annual elections among rival camps.
In 1998, the then President of the country, Chandrika Kumaratunga’s security division, became involved at the AGM, resulting in fisticuffs between rival factions.
