When using Theme.Sherlock.Light.DarkActionBar (or Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar, doesn\'t make a difference), the ActionMode (or \"contextual ActionB
I faced same problem.
I use custom theme inherited from Theme.AppCompat.Light. In my theme I overrided actionModeTheme item by my custom style item. But I faced problem as your problem.
To solve this problem just override android:alertDialogTheme item in your custom theme.
Note, it works since api 11 level.