Ranatunga raps board over pace shortage

Former Test skipper Arjuna Ranatunga has lambasted the Sri Lankan Cricket Control Board for not sending an additional fast bowler to South Africa, where the island's side crashed to its heaviest Test defeat at Cape Town on Thursday.

Ranatunga said: "I find it difficult to understand that the Board has turned down a request for an additional fast bowler. "If there had been such a request for a fast bowler, it should have been give priority. After all what would it cost to send a replacement."

The former skipper's comments followed reports that the Board had declined a request from the team's management for an additional fast bowler.

The Board has indicated that reinforcements will only be sent in case of injury or disciplinary problems. Ranatunga also attacked board officials for living in luxury, while the players received a paltry fee. "Board officials who go on tour and stay in air conditioned rooms are entitled to an allowance of 350 dollars for a day while players get just 50 dollars," he said.

Ranatunga retired last year from the international cricket. He has since been named by Indian bookmakers as one of the players who took money in return for helping to fix matches. His compatriot Aravinda de Silva too was also named in an Indian Central Bureau of Investigation, (CBI) report on match fixing.

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board appointed a one man commission of inquiry to study the evidence against both cricketers. The Commission was yet to submit its report.

Mail Cricket Editor