Saliya Saman, the former Sri Lankan domestic cricketer, has been banned from all cricket for five years. An ICC anti-corruption tribunal found him guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) anti-corruption code.
The ban is backdated to September 13, 2023, when Saman was provisionally suspended, as one of eight people - all associated with the Pune Devils franchise in the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 tournament - charged with breaching the code. Those eight included the Bangladesh allrounder Nasir Hossain, who in January 2024 was banned for two years after being found guilty of the three charges against him.
The charges against Saman relate to three articles of the ECB's anti-corruption code.
2.1.1 - Being party to an attempt to fix, contrive or influence improperly matches or aspects of matches in the Abu Dhabi T10 2021.
2.1.3 - Offering a Reward to another Participant in exchange for that player engaging in Corrupt Conduct under the Code.
2.1.4 - Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach Code Article 2.1.
In its final order, the three-member tribunal - comprising Nigel Peters KC, Justice Zak Yacoob and chairman Harish Salve KC - held that Saman had sought to recruit a player for the Abu Dhabi T10, offering that the player "would play all the fixtures, in two of those he would agree to do something that is commonly understood as match fixing."
The 39-year-old Saman, an allrounder who has played 101 first-class matches, 77 List A games and 47 T20s, last played a recognised fixture during the SLC Twenty20 Tournament in March 2021.
