Match referee Chris Broad asked to leave field by Lankan cops

Colombo, Feb 16 (PTI) The International Cricket Councilis at loggerheads with Sri Lankan authorities over "securityarrangements" that almost saw ICC match referee Chris Broadthrown out of a warm-up match.

Broad was ordered out of the field by police and securitywho had no clue about Tuesday''s warm-up game between Sri Lankaand West Indies.

Even several other ICC officials were not allowed accessto the R.Premadasa stadium by over zealous security staff whoalso prevented groundsman from doing their work.

The ICC said renovations at the stadium meant new accessarrangements had to be made and it appeared that the securitystaff had no idea on how to handle the situation.

"We need to ensure that, in future, those arrangementsare worked through thoroughly and also communicated to therelevant stakeholders," the ICC said in a statement.

"We will seek to do that in time for the next match atthe R.Premadasa Stadium on February 26.

"Sri Lankan media lashed out at the local authorities formessing up arrangements at the warm-up match. Some securitystaff also prevented press photographers taking pictures ofplayers.

"We did not have this type of stringent security evenduring the wars between government forces and LTTE," a localsports journalist said.