COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's sports minister on Wednesday blamed the cricket team's poor form on team bickering, squad politics and the influence of players' agents.
Addressing parliament, Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said players had admitted disunity and miscommunication were distracting the team.
He was responding to a remark made by Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup winning captain and opposition lawmaker Arjuna Ranatunga, who alleged that government interference has hampered performance.
Sri Lanka have not won a Test in 14 games, since defeating India in world bowling record-holder Muttiah Muralitharan's last Test in Galle in July 2010.
Since then they have played 14 Tests, lost four and drawn 10. The national team has lost series to England, Australia and Pakistan in the past few months.
Aluthgamage blamed “petty politics” for the team's dismal performance against Pakistan recently.
“After the loss and before the South African tour I called a meeting with all the players, coaches and officials to amicably resolve these issues. I was promised that such politics would not interfere in the way we play the game,” the Ceylon Today newspaper website said quoting Aluthgamage.
“At this moment, senior players stated that there is a communication gap between the captain and the main coach,” Aluthgamage said.
“It was also highlighted that there was a communication gap between the main coach and the other coaches, that there was no proper understanding between the senior players and the new comers, and that the captain does not get the fullest support from the senior players.”
“This is the true story. This is the politics within sports,” he said.
He blamed agents for interfering and commercialising the game.
“It (commercialisation) has become a cancer to the entire game of cricket.
“These days it has become a problem that cricket players play cricket according to the way their managers want them to. These persons influence the selection of the teams. They have become so strong as to even influence the selection of the team captain,” Aluthgamage said.
The minister admitted the island's richest sporting body was going through a cashflow crisis after over-spending to build three stadiums for the 2011 World Cup.
While noting that financial crises in Sri Lanka Cricket are temporary, Minister Aluthgamage was confident that the monetary turmoil in SLC will come to an end by May or June next year.
The downturn has led to delays to settle SLC staff and national players fees.
National cricketers have not been paid since March and the SLC owes its players $6 million, according to the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations.
Sri Lanka Cricket, once the richest sports body in the country, has run up a debt of $69 million, after building two new venues and revamping a third for the 2011 World Cup.
There was no immediate comment from the national team, who are currently touring South Africa for three Tests and five one-day internationals which end on January 22.
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