19 Aug 2010

Sri Lankans punished for unfair tactics

5:53 am on 19 August 2010

The Sri Lankan cricketers Suraj Randiv and Tillakaratne Dilshan have been disciplined for conspiring to deny the Indian batsman Virender Sehwag a century by deliberately bowling a no-ball.

In their one day tri-series match in Colombo at the start of this week, the scores were tied when Sehwag, needing one run for his century, smashed off spinner Randiv for six, but the umpire signalled a no-ball meaning India had won the match without any runs being added to the batsman's score.

Randiv was suspended for one match and fined his match fees, and Dilshan forfeited his fees after an internal inquiry revealed he may have prompted Randiv to deliberately overstep the mark.

The tri-series resumes tonight with Sri Lanka playing New Zealand.