da dobrowin： The government has taken over the management of Sri Lankan cricket,preventing the annual general election planned this weekend from going ahead
Cricinfo staff25-Mar-2005
Mohan de Silva: the outgoing executive committee which he headed was considering a legal challenge© Getty Images
The government has taken over the management of Sri Lankan cricket,preventing the annual general election planned this weekend from going ahead. Jeevan Kumaratunga, the sports minister, justified the move on financial andadministrative grounds, claiming “wastages” and “no accountability”.An interim committee was appointed to look after the board’s management. Jayantha Dharmadasa, the head of Nawaloka Hospitals and chairman of Sri Lanka Film Association, was appointed as the chairman. Dharmadasa contested unsuccessfully for the board presidency in 2000.Other members of the committee included Tryphon Mirando as secretary andKumar Weerasuriya. Mirando is a director at Janashakthi Insurance and aformer board member. Weerasuriya is a vice-president at National DevelopmentBank. Rienze Wijetilleke, interim chairman back in 1999, Adel Hassim andDamien Fernando were also appointed.The dissolution of the board was been widely expected after the government’sdecision to force Thilanga Sumathipala, the board’s appointed ambassador forinternational affairs who was standing uncontested for a fifth term aspresident on Sunday, to leave an important ICC meeting last week in Delhi.Sumathipala’s last-minute replacement indicated a shift in thinking withinthe government which had previously appeared supportive of Sumathipala, themain power broker within Sri Lankan cricket since the 1996 World Cup, atriumph that ignited a fight for control of the board.No specific reasons were given for the dissolution but Kumaratunga told newspaper: “I have had so many complaints saying that there are various financial mismanagements at Sri Lanka Cricket and this time when Igot the accounts I went through them very carefully and found out everythingwas not right. Their have been a lot of wastages and their seems to be noaccountability.”The outgoing executive committee, headed by Mohan de Silva, were consideringa legal challenge to the minister’s decision and were expected to hold apress conference shortly to respond to the minister’s decision. The newchairman, meanwhile, is expected to hold a press conference on Monday afterhis return to the island from a business trip.The major issues needing to be addressed will include the finalisation ofthe team sponsorship bid process, the re-drafting of annual playercontracts, the future of coach John Dyson, a possible legal fight overPallakelle Stadium and the re-building of tsunami-damaged GalleInternational Stadium.A possible far-reaching constitutional change designed to ensure a long-termsolution to the board’s problems may also be considered by the minister. Thefuture of Cricket-Aid, the board’s tsunami disaster fund headed bySumathipala, is also unclear.Interim committees were previously appointed in 1999 and 2001 to takeoverSumathipala-led administrations.