By IANS,
Colombo : Sri Lanka Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge Tuesday dissolved the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) headed by former world-cup winning cricket team captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
Minister Lokuge told IANS that the interim committee has been dissolved with immediate effect owing to “a number of reasons”.
“There are lots of reasons for my decision. The officials are not familiar with the players and they have created problem in the board,” Lokuge said.
“I have waited patiently long enough, carefully monitoring the situation, but I cannot wait anymore,” he said.
Ranatunga, who is also a parliamentarian of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition, was appointed chairman of the SLC interim committee in January.
Sri Lanka’s cricket governing body, administered by interim committees has been hit by quite a few controversies over the past three years.
The last elected body of the SLC was dissolved by the then sports minister Jeevan Kumaratunga in March 2005 on charges which included misappropriation of funds, although cricket was growing at international level.
According to local media reports, marketing and financial prospects of the Sri Lanka cricket team hit the rock-bottom this year when the SLC failed to attract a single bidder to sponsor the team, when the bids for the fresh year were closed last week.
Even the existing team sponsor Dilmah or clothing sponsor MAS did not send in their bids.
This is despite the fact that the Sri Lanka team is performing well internationally and are ranked fourth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings and are seventh in the ODI ratings.
It is not immediately known whether holding an election for the SLC would soon be possible as a court case involving previous administrators of the SLC is pending.