Ranatunga sacked

Sri Lanka's sports minister Gamini Lokuge has dissolved the interim administration of Sri Lanka Cricket, headed by Arjuna Ranatunga, saying the situation at SLC demanded an immediate change.

The sports secretary, S Liyanagama, will oversee the SLC administration until a decision is taken - within the next week, Lokuge said - on whether to call for elections or to appoint another interim administration.

"Arjuna Ranatunga has not been cooperating with the company or the players," Lokuge was quoted as saying by PTI. "We tried to sort it out but could not and he has been removed."

The immediate issue was the sacking of 16 SLC employees by Ranatunga last week. At the time, SLC officials explained the decision by saying those sacked were holding positions no longer required by the organisation. However, the decision was apparently taken without informing the minister, directly contravening his order that he be consulted on every move.

Ranatunga, appointed to the post in January 2008 after Jayantha Dharmadasa decided to step down, has had a controversial tenure. Perhaps his most controversial decision was negotiating a tour of England by the senior team that would overlap with the second season of the IPL, to which many of the players are contracted. Ranatunga said his cash-strapped board badly needed the US$2 million which the ECB was offering as guarantee money for the tour. After a protracted tussle, the tour was eventually called off with West Indies slotted in to replace Sri Lanka.

He has been a vocal critic of the IPL, once comparing it once to instant noodles, and antagonised the Indian board by stating that India lost the first Test to Sri Lanka in July because they played too much Twenty20 cricket. He also sought tighter control for the national board over player contracts with the IPL.

In September, the SLC broke ranks with the official cricketing establishment by deciding to allow five cricketers and an umpire who had signed up for the unauthorised ICL to play domestic cricket.

Ranatunga met President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday and it was widely speculated that he would be given a ministerial post.

from cricinfo