Sri Lanka's cricket administrators return to the courts

As Sri Lankan players rest their weary limbs after five months on the gruelling international circuit, the prolonged struggle for control of the country's ruling cricket body rumbles on with an intensity that the cricketers would struggle to surpass.

Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of the sacked cricket board, revealed the latest twist to an increasingly tiresome tale, when he announced today that he had filed a complaint at the Cinnamon Gardens Police station which accused the Interim Committee, who were appointed by the Sports Minister four weeks ago, of fraudulently distributing the cricket board's funds and taking unlawful possession of board property.

This is just the latest in a string of legal petitions, orders, and actions. It is a devilishly complicated affair and, in a country where the legal system is notoriously cumbersome, a simple resolution is unlikely.

The logic of the outgoing cricket board's argument is quite clear, even if the legal uncertainty is frustrating. Sumathipala's clan believes that the Sports Minister made a blunder. He dismissed them on a procedural technicality, but then made a procedural mistake of his own.

If he had suspended the board, as happened after the 1999 AGM, then Sumathipala would have had to have accepted that he was now out of political favour and gone back to attend to his burgeoning commercial empire.

As it was, however, the Sports Minister dissolved the board and broke the Sports Law, which states that the Minister can order the dissolution, but the board must then wind up its affairs. Moreover, Sumathipala's legal team is convinced that the subsequent appointment of the Interim Committee was unlawful.

Legal nit-picking perhaps, but there is some logic. If the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) has been dissolved, then how can the Interim Committee dig into the board's financial coffers? Sumathipala is confident they cannot and as soon as the Interim Committee signed their first cheque he marched down to the police station to complain.

Some of the country's cricket clubs and associations met this week to continue the attack on the Sports Ministry. They passed a resolution demanding a return to democracy and appointed a steering committee to represent the membership until the BCCSL is reinstated.

Tomorrow, it's back to the courts, as the secretary and treasurer of the dissolved board argue in the Court of Appeal that the dissolution of the board was unlawful and that they should be immediately reinstated.

The Interim Committee, led by Vijaya Malalsekera, have remained tight-lipped. They, like others, are awaiting with interest the outcome of tomorrow's hearing in the Court of Appeal. With the support of the Sports Minister, who allegedly has the full support of the government and the main opposition party, one suspects, however, that they are quietly confident.

The crucial test of the Interim Committee's legitimacy will be the banks, who operate the cricket board's accounts and will want to protect their backs from Sumathipala's hungry lawyers. If their legal advisors believe that the Interim Committee does not have the necessary authority to distribute the board's funds then the Minister may well be forced to reinstate the board.

In the meantime, it is the cricketers who are likely to lose out. A power vacuum in Sri Lankan cricket's controlling body will slow down decision-making and water down policies. The players will become frustrated, and beating a resurgent Indian side in the forthcoming Test series will become an even greater challenge than it already is.