WI v SL 2018: Hearing for Dinesh Chandimal's appeal against ball-tampering charge to be held on Friday

Dinesh has been charged by the ICC for altering the condition of the ball and exhibit behaviour that is against the spirit of the game.

Ugly scenes were seen during the second Test at St. Lucia. (AFP)

Sri Lankan Captain Dinesh Chandimal's appeal against the ball-tampering charges laid down by the International Cricket Council, will be heard on Friday, 22nd June. Further, The ICC has made it official that the chairman of ICC Code of Conduct Commission, Hon Michael Beloff QC, has been appointed as the Judicial Commissioner for the all-important date. The legal counsel for both parties and Chandimal, who is currently in the West Indies, will join via telephone or video conference. 

The ICC announced the date for the hearing and appointment through their Twitter handle, which reads, "Chairman of the ICC Code of Conduct Commission, The Hon Michael Beloff QC, has been appointed as the Judicial Commissioner to hear Dinesh Chandimal’s appeal. The hearing will take place on Friday, 22 June."

During the 3rd Day's play of the second Test in St. Lucia, a video footage was seen where Dinesh appeared to be applying an artificial substance on the ball. The match umpires then charged the captain for altering the condition of the ball at the start of play on the next day and also put a 5-run penalty. 

The Sri Lankan team didn't take the field for 2 hours on Day 4 and it took some really lengthy discussions between match officials and the Sri Lankan team management to finally resume play. 

The hearing took place for the same, where the match referee Javagal Srinath found Dinesh guilty for not breaching the laws of the game and suspended him from the third Test of the ongoing series at Barbados. 

In his statement about the hearing, Srinath stated, "After reviewing the footage of the incident, it is clear that Dinesh applied an artificial substance to the ball, namely saliva containing the residue of something he had in his mouth, an action which is prohibited under the ICC Code of Conduct," 

"The footage shows that upon receiving the ball, Dinesh took something from his pocket and put it into his mouth. After sucking or chewing whatever he put in his mouth for a few seconds, Dinesh then proceeded to spit on his finger and polish the ball with his saliva which would have contained the residue of the artificial substance that he had in his mouth, on two separate occasions"

"During the hearing, Dinesh admitted to putting something in his mouth but couldn't remember what it was, which I found unconvincing as a defense and the fact remains it was an artificial substance"

"In the pre-series briefing held on the back of the ICC Cricket Committee recommendations, both the sides were explicitly told that the match officials would be extra vigilant towards all aspects of fair play, including changing the condition of the ball and as such it is disappointing that this has happened"

Appealing against the charge is Chandimal's right under the ICC rules and the hearing for the same will take place today. Also what is important to note is that ICC has also charged Dinesh and the Sri Lankan team management of breaching the code of conduct and exhibiting a behaviour "against the spirit of the game", if found guilty of this, Dinesh's ban of one game could further stretch and he could end up missing more matches. 

(Inputs from CricketNext)

 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 22 Jun, 2018

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