Court unfreezes Lankan board accounts

The legal battle over Sri Lankan cricket took a new turn on Friday as a court dissolved an order preventing the newly-appointed interim committee from operating the cricket board's bank accounts, lawyers from both sides said.

The Commercial High Court reversed its own order after hearing representations made by the interim committee's lawyers in a case filed last month by Thilanga Sumathipala, president of the administration that was sacked in March.

"The battle is not over yet," Sumathipala told Reuters.

"The enjoining order has been set aside for now but there are more stages in the case for us to revive it," he said.

The earlier ruling had raised concerns about finances for a tour by India and New Zealand that begins in July, though the sports ministry had said it was ready to step in with money.

The court ruling is the latest in a series of legal battles which, together with power struggles and corruption scandals, have hamstrung the administration of Sri Lanka's richest sport for much of the past four years.

Sumathipala's administration was sacked after it lost a legal battle over plans to elect new officials at the end of March.

Soon after dissolving the board, Sports Minister Lakshman Kiriella stopped payment on several cheques issued at the eleventh hour by Sumathipala's officials.

The interim committee has appointed independent auditors to probe the board's finances.

Mail Cricket Editor