Having soft-peddled for years on player discipline, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) this week took a drastic decision to ban three of country’s most promising players on grounds of misconduct. The bans were not early as tough as the punishment recommended by the disciplinary committee, which felt the behaviour of the players had brought disrepute to [...]

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Discipline in focus

SLC finally sends strong message to players, as trio pays heftly fines
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A brief moment of pleasure eventually turned out to be disastrous and costly for the 'shining stars'

Having soft-peddled for years on player discipline, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) this week took a drastic decision to ban three of country’s most promising players on grounds of misconduct. The bans were not early as tough as the punishment recommended by the disciplinary committee, which felt the behaviour of the players had brought disrepute to sport and country.

Players Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella were banned from international cricket for a period of one year, from domestic cricket for six months and fined Rs 10mn each. At the end of this, they will have to complete a further one-year ban suspended for two years. This means that any misconduct during those two years will bring on a one-year ban.

What is important, however, is the Board’s decision to also rehabilitate them, directing them to mandatory counseling. Barring Niroshan Dickwella, the other two have had disciplinary issues in the past. The ban on Dickwella does seem harsh but Kusal Mendis and, in particular, Danushka Gunathilaka have been frequent offenders. All three are talented cricketers and were earmarked to play a wider role in the process of rebuilding the national team.

The selectors had just appointed Mendis as vice captain of the national side, giving him more responsibility and Gunathilaka, having captained his school and national Under-19 side, is a captain-in-waiting. He has had two other previous inquiries. In 2018, he was given a six-match suspension for breaching team curfew and, as recently as April this year, he was directed to attend one year of counseling after an inquiry over an alleged brawl at a Matara hotel. Only a year ago, Mendis was involved in a hit-and-run which killed a 64-year-old cyclist. The SLC did not bat an eyelid on that.

The national team’s discipline took a turn for the worse in recent years. SLC’s decision this week signals on other players that it will not tolerate any more of it.

“We wanted to send a strong message to the rest of the cricketers. No one is bigger than the game,” said Mohan de Silva, SLC Secretary.

“At the same time, we didn’t want to destroy their careers. We have invested heavily on them. This is why we decided to allow them to resume cricket at domestic level after six months. What we need is to rehabilitate them. They are good cricketers and we need them in the system.”

On Thursday, the disciplinary panel came down hard. They recommended to ban Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka for two years and Niroshan Dickwella for 18 months. They were each also fined US$ 25,000 (nearly Rs 5mn), to be forfeited from future matches played by them. The bans would mean they cannot ‘play and or participate in all formats of cricket nationally or internationally for the period specified’.

“Had we gone with the recommendation of the disciplinary committee, it would probably have ended their cricket careers,” de Silva said.

“So we reduced the ban and put them on a probationary period thereafter and imposed a hefty fine.”

The committee was headed by Justice Nimal Dissanayake and comprised lawyers Panduka Keerthinanda, a former legal adviser to the Ministry of Sports, Asela Rekawa, Uchitha Wickremasinghe, and Maj. Gen (Retd) M.R.W. de Zoysa. Their recommendations for harsher punishments came after the three players admitted to charges of breaching the bio-secure bubble and team curfew during the infamous night-out in Durham during Sri Lanka’s recent tour of England.

Two separates videos that emerged on social media on June 27, 2021, showed the three accused on a night out in Durham violating the COVID-19 safety guidelines and instructions as well as the team curfew. SLC swiftly recalled the players and appointed an inquiry panel.

The more serious was the first offence in which they had risked the safety of themselves, others in the team, all others involved in the tournament including the host team England, and put the rest of the England tour in jeopardy. Strict bio-secure bubbles are maintained for player safety to avoid possible cancellation of games due to infections and cricket boards around the globe spend several millions of dollars, in addition to usual expenditure, to maintain foolproof safety nets.

The inquirers have taken several key points into consideration in arriving at their decision. The pleading guilty to the charges, in the first instance and taking responsibility, previous disciplinary records, age, and past cricket career, explanation given for their conduct, impact on Sri Lanka Cricket of their action and not being truthful in certain statements they made.

The players have allegedly lied to the investigators about the time they returned to the hotel claiming it was at 11.00pm. But video footage the disciplinary panel acquired showed that they reached the hotel at half-past-midnight. The team curfew was 10.30pm.

The Sunday Times can confirm that interested parties had put pressure on the disciplinary committee to go soft on the players with even politicians speaking to them. However, they have stuck their guns.

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