Chandimal, Hathurusingha, and Gurusinha admit to conduct breach
Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusingha, and manager Asanka Gurusinha have admitted the charge of “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.
They were charged with a level 3 offence by ICC chief executive David Richardson, following Sri Lanka’s reluctance to take field after being penalized for ball-tampering on day-3 of the second Test against West Indies.
All three of them could now face a ban for two to four Tests or four to eight ODIs for breaching ICC’s Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel.
“This action was alleged to amount to a serious breach of the Laws of Cricket and to be contrary to the spirit of the game,” the ICC stated in a media-release.
The ICC has appointed Michael Beloff QC as the Judicial Commissioner for the hearing of the case and to determine an appropriate sanction for the trio.
Earlier, Chandimal was found guilty of changing the condition of the ball and was slapped with a one-Test ban. He was also fined hundred percent of his match fee and received four demerit points.
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 Javagal Sreenath, the match referee.
Television footage from the final session’s play on the second of the Test 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.
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 penalized the cricketer with the maximum punishment available for the offence.
The Sri Lanka Test skipper then appealed the ball-tampering verdict. The hearing of his case will also be conducted by Beloff.
