The International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusingha and manager Asanka Gurusinha for 2 Tests and 4 ODIs. They were penalized for acting against the spirit of the game in a Test match against Windies at St Lucia last month.
They will now miss the 2 Tests and 4 ODIs against South Africa at home. The trio had opted to stay out of the Test series and will now not take part in the next Test in Colombo and the 4 ODIs scheduled to played in Dambulla and Pallekele.
In the St Lucia Test, Dinesh Chandimal was found guilty of altering the condition of the ball. He had put something in his mouth and then used the saliva to shine the ball. The on-field umpires Ian Gould and Alim Dar pulled him up and charged Sri Lanka with 5 penalty runs.
The allegation didn’t go down well with the Sri Lankan team. On day 3 of the Test, they held up the game for a long time and then walked off again. The match-referee Javagal Srinath was seen having a long conversation with the Sri Lankan team management. The play had resumed after a delay of nearly 2 hours.
For holding up play, ICC charged the trio who then pleaded guilty to the offence. “As eight suspension points equate to a ban from two Tests and four ODIs/T20Is or eight ODIs/T20Is, whatever comes first for the player or player support personnel, the Judicial Commissioner’s ruling means the three will also remain suspended for the Dambulla ODIs (July 29 and August 1) as well as the Kandy ODIs (August 5 and 8),” the ICC said in a release after a hearing took place on July 11 and the decision was made on July 16.
“Furthermore, six demerit points each have been added to the disciplinary records of Chandimal, Hathurusinghe and Gurusinha.
“While these are first offences for Hathurusinghe and Gurusinha, this is the second time Chandimal has been sanctioned since the introduction of the revised Code in September 2016. Chandimal received four demerit points for breaching Article 2.2.9 in the same Test, and, therefore, he now has 10 demerit points against his name.”
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