Sri Lanka's cricket board stepped down on Tuesday after the government asked the sporting body's executive committee to make way for a new administration, officials said.

"The restoring of the board is for two weeks, when the court will hear the case again," a court official said.

The country's 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga has been appointed chairman of a new interim board, Ranasinghe's office said in a statement.