Chamara Silva banned for two years from cricket
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has slapped former Sri Lanka player Chamara Silva with a two-year ban from all "cricket-related activities" for his supposed role in a Tier B first-class match that featured unusual scoring rates.
The ruling comes after a seven-month inquiry into events of the third day of the Panadura Cricket Club vs Kalutara Physical Culture Club match played from January 23 to 25. Many others have also been banned for their participation in the game, including Kalutara captain Manoj Deshapriya for a two-year period.
The remaining players, coaches, and administrators have all been given one-year bans, while the clubs have each been fined 500,000 Sri Lankan rupees (approx US$ 3300) each. The result of this match has been discounted as well, meaning Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club earns promotion to Tier A instead of Panadura. Kalutara faces relegation.
Though, technically, this is a case of match-fixing - the teams seemingly having agreed to play in such a way that a certain result was more likely - at no stage have any players, coaches or administrators been suspected of taking money.
This result-manipulation, it appears, has been purely about promotion and relegation from the top tier of Sri Lanka's firstclass cricket.
"[Silva] is the captain-cumcoach [of Panadura], so he's responsible," SLC vice president K Mathivanan told ESPNcricinfo. "For any team the captain is responsible. Whether he made the decision or not - we don't know that part. But according to the ICC rules - even for slow over-rates - the captain is responsible."
"Please note that the two teams have been found guilty of misconduct and not playing to the spirit of the game, and not of match-fixing," the statement said. The two sides had scored 587 runs on the final day despite only 180 being scored over the first two days, prompting an investigation which continued for seven months.