Former Sri Lankan domestic cricketer banned for five years

Former Sri Lankan domestic cricketer Saliya Saman has been banned from all forms of cricket for five years after being found guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) anti-corruption code.

The ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal announced that the 39-year-old was involved in corrupt activities during the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 tournament, where he was associated with the Pune Devils franchise.

The ban has been backdated to September 13, 2023, when Saman was provisionally suspended. He was among eight people charged under the ECB code, including Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain, who received a two-year ban in January 2024.

Saman was found guilty of violating three key articles of the ECB’s anti-corruption code:

• 2.1.1 – Attempting to fix, contrive, or improperly influence matches or aspects of matches.
• 2.1.3 – Offering a reward to another player in exchange for engaging in corrupt conduct.
• 2.1.4 – Soliciting, inducing, or encouraging another participant to breach the code.

In its final ruling, the three-member tribunal, which included Nigel Peters KC, Justice Zak Yacoob, and chairman Harish Salve KC, stated that Saman had tried to recruit another player for fixing. He offered the player that he “would play all the fixtures, in two of those he would agree to do something that is commonly understood as match fixing.”

Saman, an all-rounder, represented Sri Lanka domestically in 101 first-class matches, 77 List A games, and 47 T20s. His last professional appearance came in March 2021 during the SLC Twenty20 Tournament.