July 10, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 24, 1428

COLOMBO, July 9: Gamini Lokuge, the sports minister, has expanded the interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) from its present size of five members to seven. Sidath Wettimuny, the former Test opener, Premasara Epasinghe, a commentator, and Dion Gomes, president of the boxing association, have been added to the committee along with Lalith Wickremasinghe, a representative of the ministry.

Prakash Schaafter and Damien Fernando, a representative of Jeevan Kumaratunga, the former sports minister, have been replaced. SLC sources suggested that Schaafter's sacking was a consequence of the media fiasco that took place on the opening day of the second Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium.

Local and foreign mediapersons complained to SLC about the poor facilities that were made available to them at the Tamil Union club where Schaafter is the secretary.

The replacement of Fernando was expected following the appointment of Lokuge, who replaced Kumaratunga as sports minister during a cabinet reshuffle in March.

The top three members in the interim committee however remain unchanged, with Jayantha Dharmadasa as chairman, Kanganan Mathivanan as secretary and Sujeewa Rajapakse as treasurer. The new-look committee is due to have its first meeting on July 11.

Sri Lanka cricket has been under interim administration since April 2005, after the elected body was accused of misappropriation of funds by Kumaratunga.—Agencies