Chandimal suspended for the next Test by ICC
Sri Lanka Test skipper Dinesh Chandimal has been found guilty of tampering with the ball during the second Test against West Indies. He has been fined hundred percent of his match fee and banned for the third and final Test of the series starting from June 23.
On-field umpires, Aleem Dar and Ian Gould, had charged Chandimal for breaching ICC’s code of conduct by tampering with the ball. The Lankan batsman had pleaded not guilty to the charges of ball-tampering, and hence, had to appear at a hearing conducted by the match referee, Javagal Sreenath.
Television footage from the final session’s play on the second of the Test has revealed that Chandimal had sweets in his pocket which he had eventually put in his mouth before spitting on his fingers and polishing the ball with his saliva.
On Sunday, a media release by the ICC had stated: “The officials laid the charge after television footage from the final session's play on Friday appeared to show the Sri Lanka captain taking sweets out from his left pocket and putting these in his mouth, before applying the artificial substance to the ball which the umpires viewed as an attempt to change its condition.”
Although Chandimal has admitted he had something in his mouth, he failed to recall what it exactly was, which Sreenath found unconvincing as a defense. He has penalized the cricketer with the maximum punishment available for the offence.
The Sri Lanka captain has escaped bigger sanctions as the newly-modified punishment for the same offence is yet to be approved by the ICC. According to the revised rule, recommended by the influential committee of the ICC, ball-tampering is likely to be upgraded from a Level 2 offence to a Level 3, which will attract a maximum of six demerit points along with a ban for two to four Tests or four to eight ODIs.
Chandimal now has four demerit points on his disciplinary record. The 28-year-old could be suspended for two to four more Tests as he was also charged with “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game” after Sri Lanka refused to take field on day-3 after being penalized for changing the condition of the ball.
Australia opener Cameron Bancroft was charged for the same offence by the ICC in March, during Australia’s Test series against South Africa. Bancroft was fined 75 percent of his match and also received three demerit points. He was then banned by Cricket Australia (CA) for nine months while the other two cricketers involved in the incident, Steve Smith and David Warner, are serving a year-long ban each.
