Kandy hotel cash still unclaimed

Nobody has claimed the 1.1m rupees (£6,650) found in the hotel room of Sri Lanka's limited-overs captain, Marvan Atapattu, after the second Test against England in Kandy.

"We have kept the money and are waiting for someone to claim it, but no one has come forward," Roshan Fernando, the general manager of the Earl's Regency Hotel in Kandy, said yesterday, adding that he had no evidence to suggest that the cash belonged to Atapattu.

Fernando said it was possible that other guests who stayed in the same room had left the money behind. Among them was an Italian couple, though Fernando could not explain why foreigners should be carrying such a large amount in local currency.

The local board, Sri Lanka Cricket, is worried about the possible fallout and asked the Criminal Investigation Department to look into the matter. The money was found in Atapattu's room last Wednesday - two days after the Test ended as a draw - by a housekeeper.

Atapattu and the cricket board have denied any wrongdoing, saying the money did not belong to the player. "I have nothing to do with that money," Atapattu said. "I don't carry such huge amounts of money while playing. I don't know to whom the money belongs."