By Saroj Pathirana BBC Sinhala Service

	Mr. Ranatunga is accused of helping corruption and being authoritarian

Disgruntled officials accuse Mr. Ranatunga of intentionally ignoring them and not convening team meetings to discuss important issues.

Secretary of the SLC Interim Committee, K Mathivanan, is reportedly sidelined by the chairman and under pressure to resign, according to media reports.

Mr. Mathivanan did not confirm nor deny the reports.

‘Fear’ prevails

He refused to comment saying he was barred from speaking to media by Mr. Ranatunga.

Everybody is scared. We will be victimized if we speak up An SLC official who wished to be anonymous

Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge told BBC Sandehsya that he sorted out “a few issues” between the chairman and the secretary of the interim committee and the matter is now resolved.

However, the minister says, he is yet to receive any complain on fear and rift in the SLC administration.

“Any Committee member can call me directly if they have concerns but I am yet to receive any complain,” he said.

Media manager sacked

Former media manager of SLC, Samantha Algama, accused chairman Ranatunga of systematically targeting the officials perceived to be supporters of the previous administration.

Mr. Algama was sacked from his position in early May but he insists accusations against Mr. Ranatunga are not aimed at taking revenge for his sacking.

	Minister denies any rift in SLC interim committee

“Everybody is scared. We will be victimized if we speak up,” an SLC official who wished to be anonymous told BBCsinhala.com.

Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach, Champaka Ramanayake and member of the operations committee, Roshan Abeysinghe both resigned after Mr. Ranatunga took over.

Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga was appointed as the head of SLC by President Mahinda Rajapaksa replacing Jayantha Dharmadasa.

Corruption charges

"My hands are clean. I will never try to make money out of the game's administration," Mr. Ranatunga said after assuming duty in January, this year.

The new chairman is accused of helping corruption and nepotism within months since taking over from the previous administration.

My hands are clean. I will never try to make money out of the game's administration Arjuna Ranatunga just after assuming office

Mr. Ranatunga is accused of failing to take action against a close ally who has allegedly tried to offer an SLC tender to his close associates.

Samantha Algama says that the SLC chairman wanted the media unit to issue a statement denying the whole affair, refusal of which has allegedly cost Mr. Algamas position as the media manager.

The sports minister admitted that the issue was reported to the ministry and he took action to prevent any malpractice happening in the future.

“I ordered that a ministry official always takes part whenever the SLC discuses tender issues from now on,” Minister Lokuge told the BBC.

Elections for SLC

SLC chairman Arjuna Ranatunga was not available for his response despite repeated attempts by the BBC. He requested to be contacted later, on few occasions, saying he was in important meetings.

The minister, meanwhile, pledged to hold elections to replace the interim administrations that have run cricket administration in Sri Lanka for the last few years.

Sri Lankan governments have, on at least three occasions, dismissed democratically elected cricket bodies on grounds of financial impropriety and replaced them with interim committees.

None of the officials of the sacked administrations, however, is yet to be convicted of any malpractice.

“I will be able to hold elections for the SLC before the end of the year,” Minister Lokuge told the BBC Sandeshaya.