The Sri Lanka Cricket Board's executive committee on the recommendation of its tournament committee, suspended Sara trophy champions CCC for violating Clause 11.3 concerning 'The Pitch' under Part 'B' of its rules and regulations.
The CCC appealed to the Cricket Board against this decision.
A meeting of the Cricket Board's hierarchy chaired by its president Upali Dharmadasa met on Sunday along with members of the tournament committee to consider the appeal made by CCC.
At the end of it, the Cricket Board decided the suspension should stand.
Cricket Board sources said that however influential a club could be, they had no option but to apply the rules, when it has been violated.
A spokesman for the CCC said the punishment was unjustifiable and alleged that there was something personal in imposing the suspension.
According to the tournament committee, the CCC had not given them sufficient time to postpone the match.
The tournament rules for such cases is 'not later than ten days prior to the scheduled date of the match concerned'. However, the rule also states: ``In situations where this time frame cannot be adhered to due to very late receipt of such information, the tournament committee may waive the above 10-day requirement''.
The CCC had informed the tournament committee a day before the match that they were unable to prepare a pitch because of the incessant rains experienced during the week.
``Due to this fact, we never handed over the pitch to the umpires, because there was no pitch prepared for the match,'' said CCC ground secretary Asanga Seneviratne.
Despite this, the tournament committee went ahead and called for the umpires report on the pitch.
The tournament committee's decision to suspend CCC rested largely