Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and manager Asanka Gurusinha have each been suspended for six international matches for “conduct which is contrary to the spirit of the game”.
The men have each been handed eight suspension points, meaning they will miss the first four One-Day Internationals against South Africa, along with both Test matches.
The bans come after the trio pleaded guilty to an International Cricket Council charge following last month’s Test against the West Indies in St Lucia.
Following a ball-tampering row, the trio were charged with the level 3 offence over Sri Lanka’s refusal to take the field on day three in the second Test, a refusal that resulted in a delay of roughly two hours.
Although they had pleaded guilty, and made the case that the entirety of the delay was not their fault, judicial commissioner Michael Beloff has imposed the harshest possible sentence of eight suspension points.
BREAKING: ICC suspends Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusingha, and manager Asanka Gurusinha for four ODIs along with two Tests pic.twitter.com/ImJdevCMjw
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 16, 2018
This is the severest sanction the ICC has handed out since the demerit points system was introduced in September 2016.
Despite the absence of the trio Sri Lanka won the first test by 278 runs after shooting out South Africa for just 73 in the second innings, their lowest target since re-admission, with Dilruwan Perera taking 6-32.
