Sri Lankan officials resign

Who will be put in charge of Sri Lankan cricket?

The Interim Committee running Sri Lankan cricket is stepping down just days before the start of a home Test series against Zimbabwe.

The six-man committee, headed by Vijaya Malalsekera and including former Test players Sidath Wettimuny and Asantha de Mel, has resigned at the request of new Sports Minister Johnston Fernando.

Their resignations will take effect from Monday, Wettimuny confirmed, leaving a power vacuum at the offices of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BBCSL).

It is unfortunate timing with the first Test starting in Colombo on 27 December.

The national team have achieved excellent results in recent weeks, including five successive Test wins and victory in a triangular one-day tournament, also involving West Indies and Zimbabwe.

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Sidath Wettimuny

And the decision has left members of the Interim Committee bewildered.

"We have sent in our resignations, but I honestly don't know the thinking behind this," Wettimuny told BBC Sport Online.

"It's a shame we have to go at this stage. But we have such a highly politicised system here."

The Interim Committee was appointed by former Sports Minister Lakshman Kiriella in April after the sacking of the BCCSL governing body, chaired by Thilanga Sumathipala, amid allegations of financial irregularities.

One of Sumathipala's major projects was the building of a new international venue at Dambulla, inaugurated with a one-day match against England earlier this year.

But it has become a white elephant after the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs said the temple which owns the land did not have the right to lease it to the Board.

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It is expected that Fernando will now appoint a new committee to run cricket for a fixed period, pending elections for the various posts.

"We have set a lot of things in motion for the World Cup in early 2003 and it would have been nice to see them through.

"We have coaching plans for the squad - we have had Barry Richards here, Daryl Foster is coming in and we were hoping to approach Bruce Yardley - and were also working on plans for a new training centre with faster wickets," said Wettimuny.

He is concerned about the possible unsettling effect on the team ahead of the three-Test series against Zimbabwe.

"That is our only fear. Michael Tissera and I have worked very closely with the players and spent a lot of time looking into their needs, but that's how it goes."