Former Sri Lankan domestic all-rounder Saliya Saman has been handed a five-year ban from all forms of cricket after being found guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board’s (ECB) anti-corruption code during the 2021 season of the Abu Dhabi T10.
The ban took effect from 13 September 2023, the day Saman was provisionally suspended. He was one of eight people linked to the Pune Devils franchise who were charged with corruption offences from that tournament. The group also included Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain, who received a two-year ban in January 2024 for similar offences.
Saman was found guilty of three offences under the ECB’s anti-corruption code:
Article 2.1.1 – attempting to influence matches in the Abu Dhabi T10.
Article 2.1.3 – offering rewards to another player for corrupt conduct.
Article 2.1.4 – encouraging or facilitating another participant to break the rules.
A three-member tribunal – Harish Salve KC (chairman), Nigel Peters KC, and Justice Zak Yacoob – found that Saman had tried to recruit a player for match-fixing. The tribunal stated that Saman had offered the player a place in all matches, with the condition that in two of them he would take part in fixing.
It said Saman proposed that the player “would play all the fixtures, and in two of those he would agree to do something that is commonly understood as match-fixing.”
The 39-year-old Saman played 101 first-class matches, 77 List A games, and 47 T20s in his career. His last appearance was in the SLC Twenty20 Tournament in March 2021. The ECB stated that this decision reinforces the message that corruption in cricket will not be tolerated.
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