COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s cricket board said on Wednesday it had invited the sport’s world governing body to investigate match-fixing allegations stemming from Pakistan’s July tour of the island nation.

The move comes weeks after opposition lawmaker Nalin Bandara claimed in parliament that the two-match Test series, drawn 1-1, had been fixed.

The board asked ICC’s anti-corruption chief Alex Marshall to visit Sri Lanka and investigate the accusation, which it said had caused “immense reputational damage”.

Sri Lanka Cricket was committed to the game’s integrity and believed an ICC probe was “the correct course of action to take in light of the recent allegations”, a board statement said.

Corruption allegations and infighting have plagued Sri Lanka’s national cricket team over the years.

Former sports minister Harin Fernando has said the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world’s most corrupt nations under its purview. One of his predecessors, Mahinda­nanda Aluthgamage, told parliament last year that match-fixing was rife in Sri Lanka.

The series against Pakistan was played at Galle during the height of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis this year, which saw months of political unrest, power cuts and nationwide fuel shortages.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2022