Sri Lankan cricketer fined part of his match fee

Sri Lankan cricketer Niroshan Dickwella has been given two demerit points after he violated the ICC’s Code of Conduct Article 2.1.1 in the One-Day International against Zimbabwe on Friday and has subsequently been fined 30 per cent of his match fee. Under the aforementioned article number, players are fined for “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.

The act took place when Zimbabwe were in the 7th over of their innings when gloveman Dickwella collected the ball, held it near to the stumps and waited for batsman Soloman Mire to leave the crease but he remained unsuccessful in his stumping attempt. After the batsman completed his shot, Dickwella again tried to do the same but failed. Mire, on the other hand, scored a fine century and ended with 112 runs.

No official hearing

The 24-year-old admitted to his mistake and accepted ICC’s punishment after the game. If any player is involved in Level 1 breaches of the ICC are charged with maximum 50 per cent match fee and two demerit points. Also, ICC gives an official warning to the player to not repeat the act again.

For Dickwella, the ICC had already issued him five demerit points before this particular one-day against Zimbabwe. With two new from the ongoing series, he now has seven demerit points and according to Article 7.6 of the Code, more than 8 demerit points within 2 years could lead to a four-match suspension and even a ban.

Previous instance

Earlier in February this year, the Sri Lankan was suspended for two one-day matches after receiving his 5th demerit point within two weeks. The charges on Dickwella were laid by on-field umpires Ian Gould and Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Nigel Llong the third umpire and Ranmore Martinez the fourth one.

Sri Lanka will want to level the five-match series when the teams return to Galle Stadium for the second ODI on Sunday.