Sri Lanka minister orders probe into Sangakkara comments

Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has ordered a probe into wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara's comments that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was populated by "partisan cronies".

Sangakkara, in an hour-long speech for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)'s annual Spirit of Cricket lecture at Lord's, had said that Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup win led to a change in direction at the top of the sport in the country, bringing a loss of direction, transparency and accountability.

"He (Sangakkara) is contract player. He has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka Cricket and he can't make a statement like that. He has to get permission. He can't talk about the cricket administration or cricket. He can say anything about him," Stuff.co.nz quoted Aluthgamage, as saying.

"I have written to the chairman of the cricket board to go into this and get me a report immediately," he added.

Sangakkara had said that the country's cricket administration has turned "from a volunteer-led organization run by well-meaning men of integrity in 1996" into an organization that has been in turmoil ever since.

"After 1996, the cricket board has been controlled and administered by a handful of well-meaning individuals either personally or by proxy rotated in and out depending on appointment or election," Sangakkara had said.

"Unfortunately, to consolidate and perpetuate their power they opened the door of the administration to partisan cronies that would lead to corruption and wanton waste of cricket board finances and resources," he had added.