Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Zoysa was suspended by the International Cricket Council Wednesday after the bowling coach was accused of match-fixing and other “corrupt conduct”.
His suspension comes after Sri Lankan cricket was rocked by a documentary that allegedly showed cricketer Tharindu Mendis discussing a plan to doctor the pitch at Galle for the Test against England beginning next Tuesday.
Zoysa was “party to an effort to fix or contrive or to otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspect of an international match”, the ICC said.
The ICC’s brief statement gave no further detail on the allegations.
Sri Lanka’s cricket board said Zoysa had been placed on compulsory leave with immediate effect.
Forty-year-old Zoysa is the second Sri Lankan to be charged by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).
Earlier this month, dashing former batsman, ex-chief selector and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya was charged for failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and concealing information.
Jayasuriya, 49, was reportedly asked to cooperate with an inquiry from ACU chief Alex Marshall, who visited Sri Lanka last month.
The ACU said it was acting further on a previous investigation which in January 2016 saw Galle stadium curator Jayananda Warnaweera banned for three years after he failed to cooperate with an investigation.
“There is currently an ICC (ACU) investigation under way in Sri Lanka. Naturally as part of this we are talking to a number of people,” Marshall said last month.
It was not clear whether the charges against Zoysa and Jayasuriya related to the same case or if they were being investigated separately.
Sri Lanka’s cricket board said it was working with the ICC to set up a “fully-fledged ” anti-corruption body of its own.
The country recently sought help from neighbouring India to drafting laws to combat cheating in the game.
