Sri Lanka Cricket will decide the fate of three controversial umpires charged with spot-fixing next week after the final round of investigations starting today.
The final three-day inquiry conducted by an unnamed individual comes as Sri Lanka Cricket decided to speed up the process after the Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket boards banned their umpires who were involved in the same episode.
“We will have the final inquiry today, tomorrow and the day after before deciding on the verdict,” said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva who declined to reveal the name of the investigator.
Sri Lankan umpires Gamini Dissanayake, Sagara Gallage and Maurice Winston were among six umpires reportedly caught in an India TV sting operation that claimed they agreed to commit irregular acts or provide inside information on the state of the pitch and toss.
The two Pakistani umpires along with a Bangladeshi have been banned for periods ranging from four to ten years.
Winston is alleged to have provided information about the teams, conditions and the toss 90 minutes before an England vs Australia match on Sept 17 last year in return for a payment of approximately £600.
Gallage is also alleged to have offered the same information before a warm-up match between Pakistan and India while agreeing to rule a Pakistani batsman not out during a Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) match.
Gamini Dissanayake is alleged to have agreed on favoring his country’s players in any format of the game in return for payments.
All three umpires have rejected the claims and if found guilty could face bans for a minimum of up to three years from umpiring at any level of the game.
“We have got the recommendations from the disciplinary committee and based on the final inquiry we will decide what action we would take,” added De Silva.
Like their banned counterparts in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the three Sri Lankan umpires were immediately suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket on the instructions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) pending the inquiry.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) last month banned international umpire Nadir Shah for 10 years while Pakistan banned their top umpire Nadeem Ghauri for four years for spot-fixing.
Despite allegations of match-fixing on the part of Sri Lanka cricketers in the past, the country has relatively remained untainted and a ruling against the umpiring trio will take its image to a hitherto unseen level according to analysts.
