Sports -

Changes to the countries premier cricketing body, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is expected to take place later this week with the Ministry of Sports going ahead with the formation of a Trust in order to administer the popular game.

A top official of the Ministry of Sports speaking to The Sunday Times said, “We are definitely going to bring about changes with the appointment of a Trust which will take away a lot of the current functions handled by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Currently SLC is overburdened with too many functions and the formation of the trust will help to ease things out”. The Ministry spokesman admitted that officials of his Ministry are examining the current proposal with regarding the trust and should finalize all matters this week. The delay in the appointment of the trust is due to officials of the sports ministry being heavily involved with the organization of next weeks South Asian Federation games.

The Sunday Times also learns from informed sources that a handful of former Sri Lanka Cricketers who have served Sri Lanka Cricket in the past have been already identified to be appointed to the trust.

Currently SLC is run by a Government appointed Interim Committee which is expected to continue until next year’s world cup. However the appointment of the trust is expected to take away most of the key functions from the current administration set-up.

Earlier the hotly contested elections for office bearers for Sri Lanka Cricket in mid July was cancelled with the intervention of President Mahinda Rajapakse in the aftermath of a meeting that he had with a group of past national cricketers who were concerned about the status of the game’s administration at present.

Some past cricketers also confirmed that they have heard about a move of this nature, but said that they have not got any confirmation about it.

Hathurusinghe – ‘A’ team coach

Former Sri Lanka Cricketer Chandika Hathurusinghe is to be appointed Sri Lanka ‘A’ team coach with effect from September. Hathurusinghe who turns 38 next month has played 26 tests and 35 one dayers for Sri Lanka averaging 29.62 and 20.90 respectively. Hathurusinghe replaces Australian Stan Nel who was the A team coach for two years and ended his term in March this year.