DUBAI – Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal was charged by the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) on Sunday over ball tempering in the second Testagainst the West Indies in St Lucia.
Play started two hours late on Saturday after the Sri Lankans, led byChandimal, refused to take the field following a decision by umpires AleemDar and Ian Gould to charge the tourists with altering the state of theball during the latter stages of Friday’s play.
The International Cricket Council announced on Twitter that Chandrimal hadbeen charged for “breaching Level 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct”.
The rule cited deals with altering the state of the ball.
Sri Lanka had already been handed five penalty runs on Saturday, althoughthat relatively minor punishment was inconsequential compared to the SriLankans’ obvious anger at being accused of what amounts to cheating.
It appeared for some time on Saturday that the day’s play at least — andpossibly the rest of the match — might be in doubt. However, it was afterthese deliberations that the Sri Lankans agreed to the change of ball andto continue playing.
But after initially appearing to be prepared to resume the match, the SriLankans hesitated even as they were making their way out to the middle,resulting in further discussions before they were finally persuaded to getthe day’s play underway two hours later than scheduled.
The ICC warned at the time that they might take punitive action.
“If there are any, Code of Conduct charges will follow as per usual atclose of play,” tweeted the ICC.
In a statement on Saturday, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) solidly backed itsplayers.
“The team management has informed us that Sri Lankan players have notengaged in any wrongdoing,” said SLC in a statement, but added: “SLCadvised the team to take the field to ensure the continuity of the matchand wish to commend the decision taken by the team ‘under protest’ toensure the upholding of the spirit of the game.”’Eggshells’
Former Sri Lanka player Kumar Sangakkara told Sky Sports in the UK: “Ithink that they feel hard done-by.
“I think that everyone is a bit jumpy and walking on eggshells, especiallyafter what happened in South Africa. So maybe Gould was just beingover-cautious.
“They say something, maybe, that meant the ball needed to be changed; maybeit was the shape. The Sri Lankans would have taken offence at that andwould have made their case.”
In March this year, Australia were caught tampering with the ball in thethird Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Steve Smith and David Warnerwere stripped of the captaincy and vice-captaincy respectively and bannedfrom playing international cricket for 12 months.
Opening batsman Cameron Bancroft, the player caught on camera applyingsandpaper to the ball, was banned for nine months.
The controversy also rekindled memories of 2006 when Pakistan werepenalised five runs for ball tampering in the fourth Test against Englandat The Oval. That match was the only Test in the game’s history to beforfeited after Pakistan refused to return to the field.
When play eventually resumed on Saturday, Sri Lanka fought well to limitthe West Indies first-innings lead to 47 runs as the hosts, who started theday at 118 for two, lost their last six wickets for 59 runs to be dismissedin the final session for 300. – APP/AFP