SL sacks cricket board days after World Cup thrashing

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka´s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the national cricket board on Monday, days after a humiliating defeat by India at the World Cup.

Ranasinghe has been at loggerheads with Sri Lanka Cricket -- the richest sports organisation on the financially-stricken island -- for months over allegations of widespread corruption.

The country´s 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, 59, has been appointed chairman of a new interim board, Ranasinghe´s office said in a statement.

The former captain was “the most suitable person to revive cricket”, the minister told reporters in Colombo. “The priority is to get the team to perform better.”

Three judges were included on the seven-member panel to help investigate corruption, he added. Ranatunga said he had accepted the challenge of rebuilding cricket.

“Sri Lanka Cricket had become known as the most corrupt institution in the country,” he added. “I want to change that image.” The move came a day after the board´s second-highest officer, secretary Mohan de Silva, quit.

Minister Ranasinghe publicly demanded the entire board´s resignations after Sri Lanka´s 302-run World Cup thrashing by hosts India last week.

Sri Lanka were at one point 14-6 and were all out for 55, the fourth-lowest World Cup total in history, while chasing India´s 358 in Mumbai.

The defeat prompted a public outcry and police have been deployed outside the board office in Colombo since Saturday when there were angry protests.

Ranasinghe said that Sri Lanka Cricket officials had no moral or ethical right to remain in office. “They should voluntarily resign,” he said, having previously accused the board of being “traitorous and corrupt”.

The interim panel is the 10th appointed by a sports minister for various reasons since 1999 -- when the government intervened after the president´s uncle lost the election to lead the board -- despite International Cricket Council rules against political interference.