Sri Lankan Cricket Board resigns

Sri Lankan Cricket Board resigns
KJM VARMA

COLOMBO, FEB 22: The Sri Lankan Cricket Board plunged into fresh crisis as the entire interim committee headed by Rinzie Wijayathilake resigned on Tuesday following differences with the Sports Minister.

The fresh crisis engulfed the board after Sports Minister SB Dissanayake, under whose authority it functioned, postponed the elections and ordered an official inquiry into allegations of financial irregularities under a previous board.

Board sources said that fresh differences between Wijayathilake and the Sports Minister resulted in the board chief tendering his resignation.

After learning about it, other office bearers too sent in their resignations, they said.

For over an year, the board was being managed by an interim committee appointed by Dissanayake after a court stayed the elections of office-bearers last year. Former board president Thilaga Sumathipala, elected in the controversial election marred by fisticuffs and allegtions of criminal trespass, was barred from functioning.

The elections for the new committee too were postponed after the interim panel alleged irregularities in cash transactions by earlier committees. Following this, the Sports Minister postponed the elections and appointed a three-member committee to scrutinise the accounts.

Under Sri Lankan law, the Sports Minister has absolute power over sports body and can veto any decision.

The Sri Lankan cricket team is currently touring Pakistan.

-- PTI