COLOMBO: Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and manager Asanka Gurusinha have been banned for four One-day Internationals and two Tests for acting against the spirit of the game, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Monday.

The trio admitted breaching the ICC’s code of conduct, which relates to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”, after their team refused to take the field on the third day of the second Test against West Indies at Gros Islet in St Lucia last month.

Match officials had accused the team of altering the condition of the ball. The visitors eventually resumed play under protest.

The ban means the trio will miss the ongoing home two-Test series against South Africa and the first four ODIs of the five-match series starting on July 29.

They were already suspended from the opening Test against South Africa which Sri Lanka won by 278 runs inside three days in Galle.

“During the hearing, however, it was mutually agreed that, since the minimum sanction for a Level 3 offence was suspension from two Tests, the three will not participate in the Galle Test and Colombo Test,” the ICC said in a statement.

Six demerit points have been added to the records of all three men, bringing Chandimal’s tally to 10, having received four over the original ball-tampering offence.

If Chandimal collects two further demerit points within a 24-month period, he will be suspended for a further three Tests or six ODIs.

Sri Lanka face South Africa in the second and final Test at the SSC Ground in Colombo, starting on Friday.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2018