COLOMBO, Sept 10: Sri Lanka’s cricket board is set for its first elections in four years, Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge said on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been dogged in recent years by controversies and bitter infighting among politicians wanting to wrest control of the most popular sport in the island nation.

“Work is underway to hold the elections,” Lokuge said, while declining to give a precise date.

The last elected administration under Tilanga Sumathipala was dismissed by the then sports minister Jeewan Kumaratunga in March 2005, barely a year after elections.

Since then, politically appointed administrations have run SLC, the island’s richest sports governing body.

Sumathipala’s rival in the 2004 election, former captain Arjuna Ranatunga, now heads the SLC, but the 44-year-old, who is a ruling party member of parliament, has said he is not interested in contesting the elections.

Jayantha Dharmadasa, a previous chairman of the SLC, and Sumathipala are thought likely to run.—AFP