Sri Lanka's Lokuhettige suspended for match fixing

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Former Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige has been charged and suspended for corruption during the first edition of the T10 league held last year, the International Cricket Council said Tuesday.

The 38-year-old has been charged with three counts of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board's anti-corruption code. The league, with six teams playing the newest ten-overs-a-side format, was held in Sharjah. Lokuhettige is the third Sri Lankan player charged for violating the anti-corruption code following cases last month former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya and former fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa. Jayasuriya and Zoysa were charged for matches relating to Sri Lankan national team. The International Cricket Council (ICC) said it has taken action against Lokuhettige.

"The charges relate to the T10 Cricket League and Lokuhettige has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect," said an ICC release. ICC said Lokuhettige was "party to an effort to fix or contrive or to otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct, or other aspect(s) of a match and directly soliciting and inducing a player." He is also charged for failure to disclose the full details of any approaches or invitations. He played nine one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals for Sri Lanka in a career spanned from 2005-2013.

Lokuhettige also featured in an Al-Jazeera documentary "Cricket's Match Fixers" earlier this year in which he was talking to an undercover reporter about fixing a match. Alex Marshall, head of the ICC's Anti-Corruption unit, said last month the high number of reports and investigations in Sri Lanka indicates that corruption is deep-rooted. He also said the explosion of T20s and other tournaments had created fertile ground for those trying to corrupt players.

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