Ex-Sri Lanka Test players charged with match-fixing

COLOMBO: Former Sri Lankan Test players Nuwan Zoysa and Avishka Gunawardene have been charged with match-fixing and given two weeks to respond, the International Cricket Council announced Friday.

The charges against the two cricketers relate to a T10 league played in the United Arab Emirates in December, the ICC said.

Zoysa was charged under four counts, including for “being a party to an agreement to influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of a match”. The ICC slapped two charges against Gunawardene, one for soliciting a match-fixing breach and the other for failing to inform the Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC.

The charges are the latest in a spate of match-fixing controversies to hit former world champions Sri Lanka in recent months. Three months ago, the ICC banned Sri Lanka’s former skipper and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya from all forms of the game for two years for failing to cooperate with an anti-corruption investigation.

Last month, ex-Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige was suspended over three-match corruption accusations. And last year, a match-fixing controversy blew up after a sting operation for a TV documentary.

In December, Sri Lanka’s Sports minister Harin Fernando announced that the country has been rated as the most corrupt cricket nation by the ICC, the world governing body of the sport.