Saliya Saman banned for five years over case involving match fixing

Former Sri Lankan domestic cricketer Saliya Saman has been banned from all forms of cricket for five years after an ICC anti-corruption tribunal found him guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) anti-corruption code. The ban has been backdated to September 13, 2023, the date when Saman was provisionally suspended. He was one of eight individuals linked to the Pune Devils franchise in the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 tournament who were charged with violating the code.

Among the other individuals was Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain, who in January 2024 received a two-year ban after being found guilty of the three charges against him. In April this year, Hossain resumed playing competitive cricket in Bangladesh after serving a two-year ban from all forms of cricket due to being found guilty of breaching the anti-corruption code. ICC had said at that time that from Hossain's two-year ban, six months were suspended.

Saman’s charges relate to three specific articles of the ECB’s anti-corruption code:

The first, Article 2.1.1, concerns being party to an attempt to fix, contrive, or improperly influence matches or aspects of matches during the Abu Dhabi T10 2021 tournament. Secondly, Article 2.1.3, pertains to offering a reward to another participant in exchange for engaging in corrupt conduct under the code. Thirdly, Article 2.1.4, relates to directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging, or facilitating any participant to breach the anti-corruption code.

In its final order, the three-member tribunal, which comprised Nigel Peters KC, Justice Zak Yacoob, and chairman Harish Salve KC, concluded that Saman had actively attempted to recruit a player for the Abu Dhabi T10, offering that the player would feature in all the games that season, and would perform match fixing in a couple of games out of those.

The 39-year-old, who has played 101 first-class matches, 77 List A games, and 47 T20s in his career. He last featured in a recognized cricket fixture during the SLC Twenty20 Tournament in March 2021.