Sri Lanka seek ICC leniency for Dinesh Chandimal in ball-tampering fiasco

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) hopes the ICC doesn’t punish captain Dinesh Chandimal and coach Chandika Hathurusingha for breaching the Spirit of Cricket harshly so that the duo can be part of the island nation’s upcoming two-Test series against South Africa in July.

As things stand now, it seems that captain Chandimal, coach Hathurusingha and manager Asanka Gurusinha may be slapped with a two-Test suspension after they admitted to a level 3 offence. The punishment for this level of offence is four suspension points which is equivalent to two Tests.

Though the Sri Lanka management has accepted that it was a disciplinary breach on the part of the team to not take the field on the third morning of the second Test against the West Indies in St Lucia, it hopes to convince the ICC that several factors went into that and therefore the captain and the coach deserve lesser degree of penalty.

“We were aware of the rules. When they sent us the charge sheet, all three of us accepted it. We were too emotional when we were informed that the captain was charged for ball tampering. We made a mistake and regret it,” manager Gurusinha was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

“My worry is that we will be without the services of our captain for the upcoming South African series. We are hoping that the ICC will reduce the punishment. We have accepted the charge and now we are hoping that both our captain and coach will be available for the South Africa series,” he added.

NO SLC SANCTIONS

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has made it clear that it will not impose any further sanctions on captain Chandimal for his role in the ball-tampering row during the St Lucia Test.

Chandimal was banned for a Test by the ICC in the wake of the incident and he missed the team’s third and final Test in the Barbados.

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“I am disturbed about the team not taking the field. It was wrong not to take the field. This should not have happened. But I can understand the team trying to back the captain,” Faizer Mustapaha, the Minister of Sports in Sri Lanka government, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Ministry of Sports at present manages the affairs of SLC in the country following a court order.

“We regret the team not going onto the field for two hours. We should maintain discipline of the highest order. SLC is committed to spirit of cricket. We maintained that Chandimal was innocent, but the ICC has issued a sanction and we abide by it,” Mustapaha added.