COLOMBO, Sept I9: The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka has denied allegations in the Herald Sun Newspaper which suggested that the Sri Lanka team is under investigation for ball tampering.

Following the publication of the article, BCCSL officials contacted ICC officials, who in turn confirmed with Match Referee Mike Procter that there were never any allegations against Sri Lanka of ball tampering.

“The allegation that Sri Lanka is under investigation for ball tampering is completely untrue and baseless,” said Procter.

The article said “there is concern that Sri Lanka may have unfairly damaged the ball when paceman Pulasthi Guneratne bowled the 10th over.”

It also quoted an unnamed “senior television commentator” as having said “the International Cricket Council was looking at the incident.”

The BCCSL also clarified allegation in the same article that “Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya was gagged by the ICC from talking about the ball-tampering allegations at his press conference” after the match.

The post-match press conference, in which both Jayasuriya and Pakistan captain Waqar Younis participated, was conducted in the presence of dozens of journalists and several officials of both the ICC and the BCCSL.

No question was asked of Jayasuriya regarding allegations of ball tampering by Sri Lanka. However Jayasuriya was asked to comment on allegations against Pakistan, which the ICC Communications Manager dealt with since the question fell under the purview of the ICC and not the BCCSL.—PPI