France Cricket implodes: letters hidden in a drawer and a board at war

A February letter from the sports ministry was explosive for French cricket. Arriving at France Cricket's Saint-Maurice headquarters on February 11, the letter declared that no mandate for the sport had been granted for 2026-2029 and underscored that no cricket squad had the right to call itself an official team of "France". Minutes from a June 26 board meeting – published July 7 on the France Cricket website before being deleted within half an hour, and archived by FRANCE 24 – show that, for weeks, France Cricket's elected board was apparently not told of ministry letters confirming it had lost official status. The minutes contain email and text exchanges with Chairman Prebagarane Balane in which he denied receiving notice from the sports ministry. When the February letter first arrived, France Cricket's administrative officer emailed a PDF version to Balane, copying CEO Saravana Durairaj and the organisation's lawyer, Alexis Rutman. Later asked by Treasurer Prethevechand Thiyagarajan to account for what happened, she stated that Balane had instructed her to forward it. By the time a second ministry letter arrived on March 6, those instructions had changed. According to the minute...