IANS

Colombo, May 1: Arjuna Ranatunga, head of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) interim governing body on Thursday removed its media manager allegedly for "being too good with the media".

SLC media manager Samantha Algama said SLC CEO Dulip Mendis had on Wednesday night informed him of the decision by Ranatunga "to remove him with immediate effect".

"Mr Mendis said that Arjuna Ranatunga has told him to inform me that the SLC no longer required my service as media manager. Ranatunga has said that I was too good with the media and that is why I was removed," Algama told IANS on phone.

Algama, one of the longest serving media managers in the cricketing world, said he was doing a honorary job from 2005 without taking a single cent as salary from the SLC.

"Arjuna is clearly taking revenge on people whom he thinks are still loyal to the previous SLC interim chief Jayantha Dharmadasa. He does not like certain irregularities in the SLC to reach the media. That was his main problem," Algama said.

"If Arjuna thinks that by removing me he can silence the sports media, he is miserably mistaken," an angry Algama said.

The removal of Algama came amid media reports that Ranatunga was having problems with SLC secretary Kangatharan Mathivanan.

There was no immediate reaction from Ranatunga in this regard.

Ranatunga, Sri Lanka's World Cup winning cricket captain, was appointed interim committee chairman of the SLC in January by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He is expected to develop cricket at the village and district levels in order to produce good national cricketers.

Ranatunga, who had captained Sri Lanka in 38 Tests between 1988 and 1999, and played 269 one-day internationals, is currently a MP of the ruling coalition government and represents the Colombo district.