Ranatunga unhappy with delay in naming committee

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lanka captain, has slammed Jeevan Kumaratunga, the sports minister, for the delay in naming a committee to oversee cricket in Sri Lanka.

Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan President, had, on the request of Ranatunga and other former players, ordered that elections to a deeply divided Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) be cancelled. Rajapaske had also asked Kumaratunga to name a panel to replace the SLC's interim committee and bring in ex-players like Ranatunga to administer the sport.

Kumaratunga, however, has put off appointing a new committee and asked the existing panel under Jayantha Dharmadasa to continue for an indefinite period. Ranatunga said the government was going back on its promise to constitute a new committee.

"We have done our part and a promise was given to us by the country's president that the cricketers will have a larger say," Ranatunga told AFP. "But after almost a week, the sports minister has not done anything. Frankly, there's nothing much we can do. Now it's in the hands of the minister."

Local media said Kumaratunga had delayed naming a new panel because he wanted his own appointee Dharmadasa to continue in office. The power struggle in the country's richest sports body rumbled on as South Africa arrived in Colombo on Wednesday to play two Tests and a limited-overs tri-series also featuring India.