Lloyd's questioning of Muralitharan's bowling action came as the prolific off-breaker snared 16 wickets for the match as Sri Lanka cruised to a 10-wicket victory over England in a one-off Test at The Oval.

But today, in the wake of a humiliating defeat and as his Ashes touring party was announced, Lloyd was being called to face the repercussions of the comments he made on Sunday.

ECB chief executive Tim Lamb said Lloyd's comments were ``inappropriate and insensitive'' and senior officials expected an explanation from him at ``the earliest opportunity.''Lloyd said he had certain ``opinions'' about the bent arm action of Muralitharan and promised to inform ``the proper authorities.''

Lamb said Lloyd's remarks were his own and not in line with the ECB position, which is to abide by the International Cricket Council's(ICC) ruling on Muralitharan's action.

``We are disappointed with the way (Lloyd) handled the whole issue as there is a set procedure -- and we have made our views known to the ECB,'' he said.

HICK AXED: Graeme Hick, the only batsman still playing first-class cricket to have scored 100 centuries, has been left out of England's party to tour Australia later this year

The Team

Alec Stewart (captain), Nasser Hussain (vice-captain), Michael Atherton, Mark Butcher, Dominic Cork, John Crawley, Robert Croft, Angus Fraser, Darren Gough, Dean Headley, Warren Hegg, Ben Hollioake, Alan Mullally, Mark Ramprakash, Peter Such, Graham Thorpe, Alex Tudor. Tour Manager: Graham Gooch. Coach: David Lloyd.