The annual general meeting and elections of the Sri Lanka board which were scheduled for July 15 have been cancelled. This means that the Interim Committee will continue to be in charge of cricket in Sri Lanka.

Announcing the decision, Jeewan Kumaratunga, the minister of sports, indicated that it was the wrong time for elections. "We have the South African team coming here for a Test series next week and it will be followed by a triangular series which also features India. Then, we have to work with a vision with next year's World Cup in mind. Hence this is not the time to have elections," Kumaratunga was quoted as saying in Daily News.

Kumaratunga also feared that elections in the current environment could further vitiate the already bitter atmosphere which exists between the parties contesting for the top posts in Sri Lankan cricket. "Then the ICC could even question and we may have problems in hosting international matches and even playing in the World Cup."

The Interim Committee is currently headed by Jayantha Dharmadasa, and he was expected to contest the elections against Mohan de Silva, former SLC president. Media reports in recent days said the rivals had promised huge payments to member clubs to secure their votes for control of the nation's richest sports body. Kumaratunga said the composition of the committee could change later, but insisted that the interim administration of SLC would continue.

Dharmadasam, meanwhile, accepted the decision but insisted that he would have won had the elections taken place. "I am sure the Minister has taken this decision in the best interest of the game," he said. Talking about the progress made in the 15 months he was in charge, Dharmadasa said he was happy with the progress both on the field and off it. "When I took over I had a time to put the house in order. Now we have established financial discipline corporate government, set target to each director, and performance are measured periodically. The achievement in England in the one day series [Sri Lanka won 5-0] was great.

"I strongly believe that we could win the World Cup again, in 2007. I have done all basic work focused on the World cup. I have already earmarked people with professional competency to drive this program."

de Silva, meanwhile, expressed his shock at the cancellation of the elections. "Had the elections been held our team would have won comfortably," he said in a media release.

SLC Interim Committee
Jayantha Dharmadasa (Chairman), Adel Hashim (secretary), Sujeewa Rajapaksa (treasurer), Damien Fernando (member), K. Mathivanan (member) and Prakash Schaffter (member).