Sri Lankan cricket was yesterday rocked by sexual misconduct allegations surrounding the women’s cricket team.

Sri Lanka’s sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has ordered an independent inquiry after sickening reports in the local press that some of the national players had to perform sexual favours to officials in order to keep their place or break into the national side.

Reports also claim that players were dropped after refusing to engage in sex acts with sports officials.

“The minister wants to clear the air by getting this report investigated,” spokesman Harsha Abeykoon said. “We want to get to the bottom of it because this is bad for the image of the game and the country.”

The investigation will be run by a three-person panel, headed by a retired female judge and will begin within the next two days.

“To be fair by all the parties, it’s necessary for us to carry out an independent inquiry to clear the names of some people, if they’re not guilty of something,” Ashley de Silva, head of Sri Lankan cricket, said. “So far we have not had any accusations.

“The inquiry would be carried out by one person, a lawyer, with an assistant. This would be only the preliminary investigation. Based on the report, the executive committee will make a decision on the way forward — whether we need to have another committee to carry out an inquiry or not.”

It is believed that an internal investigation was carried out last week in which selectors, team management and players were interviewed but there were no accusations according to De Silva.

The findings of the inquiry will be reported at the next meeting held on November 12, at which point a decision will be made whether or not a full-scale investigation will be required.