By Saroj Pathirana BBC Sinhala service

	Minister says the government only granted 50 million rupees to bail out the SLC

Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told BBC Sinhala service that he expected half of the outstanding salaries to be initially paid.

"There has always been a delay in of 4-5 months in paying their salaries. We admit that the players are to be paid 347 million rupees for the last seven months until September," he said.

The payment will be possible as the ICC has pledged to release part of the outstanding $6.4 million owed to SLC for co-hosting the World cup together with India and Bangladesh, he said.

Head of ICC media, Colin Gibson, told BBC Sinhala service that the delay in paying the hosting fee was due to the late submission of audited accounts by the SLC.

SLC 'inefficient'

"Yes there has been a delay. But now the accounts have been submitted," was the response by Minister Aluthgamage.

We have made mistakes. It is because of there was no efficient administration in the SLC that we are facing this financial crisis now Sri Lanka sports minister

He also confirmed that the cabinet of ministers refused to grant one billion rupees to bail out the cash-strapped Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).

Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told BBC Sandeshaya that the cabinet only granted 50 million rupees, instead.

While the cabinet has agreed to offer help to pay debts to state institutions for constructing new stadiums, the ministers were of the opinion that it is up to the SLC to sort out its own salaries, he said.

The parliamentary committee on public enterprises (COPE) in a report submitted last week said there is a 3.1 billion rupee hole in SLC finances.

It has also criticised the conduct of continuous interim committees appointed by Mahinda Rajapaksa administration but the minister has previously praised the conduct of the committee headed by DS de Silva in which Nishantha Ranatunga was the secretary.

"I rejected allegations of corruption against the DS de Silva committee but I openly said that it was ineffective," the minister told BBC Sandeshaya.

"We have made mistakes. The SLC should have told the government that the construction of new stadiums would cost much more than estimated. It is because of there was no efficient administration in the SLC that we are facing this financial crisis now," he added.

Despite facing a serious financial crisis after hosting the World Cup, Sri Lanka competed with Australia’s Gold Coast to host 2018 Commonwealth Games.