Former Sri Lanka player banned for eight years

A player who attempted to fix aspects of matches in the T10 League in Sharjah has been banned from the sport for eight years.

Dilhara Lokuhettige, the former Sri Lanka international, was earlier this year found guilty of attempting to “fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly” matches at the 2017 T10.

Three months later, he has been handed a sanction which the ICC believe “should serve as a deterrent for anyone considering getting involved in corruption of any kind”.

The sanction will be backdated to April 2019, when he was first suspended, meaning he will be ineligible to return until 2027, by which time he will be 46.

“The severity of the sanction reflects the seriousness of his offences and his continued refusal to cooperate and should serve as a deterrent for anyone considering getting involved in corruption of any kind,” Alex Marshall, the ICC’s head of integrity, said.

After the judgement was announced in January, a management agency purporting to represent Lokuhettige posted footage of a press conference in which his then lawyer said: “We have evidence on ICC ACU, it is a den of thieves.”

The ICC believed the comments to be emblematic of a lack of remorse on the player’s part, according to the sanction report.

“That lack of remorse has been compounded by the approach he has taken in these proceedings,” the report said.

“Especially the making of [or permitting his counsel to make] very serious, highly improper and totally unsubstantiated allegations about the conduct of the ICC ACU, and public comments outside of these proceedings, in breach of the code’s provisions relating to confidentiality.”