Sri Lanka Cricket has requested that Galle curator Jayananda Warnaweera step back from preparations for next week's Test, after he missed a meeting with the ICC's anti-corruption security unit (ACSU) in Colombo on Wednesday. Warnaweera would ordinarily oversee preparations of the surface and the ground for the first Test against West Indies, which begins on October 14, but SLC has instead asked national curator Janaka Sampath to take over at Galle.

The board had been prompted to make other arrangements for this Test when ASCU staff alerted them about Warnaweera's failure to turn up to the meeting. SLC is expected to have a clearer view of the implications of Warnaweera's absence following a meeting between ACSU staff and SLC chairman Sidath Wettimuny this afternoon. The board is expected to make a statement some time in the next 48 hours. No official suspension of any nature has been handed down.

Last Friday, Warnaweera had resigned from SLC's interim committee, citing personal reasons. His appointment to the interim committee in March had raised minor criticism, because Warnaweera had also been an executive committee member in controversial previous administrations. At the time, then-sports minister Navin Dissanayake had postured the new board as a clean break from the past.

(espncricinfo)