Match-fixing probe clears Ranatunga, de Silva

A local investigation into match-fixing allegations against Sri Lankan Test cricketers Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga has cleared both players, a cricket board official said on Sunday.

Lawyer Desmond Fernando, who was appointed by the Sri Lankan cricket board to probe the allegations against former captain Ranatunga and top batsman de Silva, found them not guilty of the charges.

"Mr. Fernando found there was no prima facie case against either player," said the official, who declined to be identified.

The 11-page report was handed over to the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka last week, ending a nine-month inquiry prompted by an Indian police report that Ranatunga and de Silva had taken bribes from bookmakers to throw matches.

Vijaya Malalasekera, chairman of the interim committee which runs cricket in Sri Lanka, confirmed that he had received the report but declined further comment.

"We will not make any comment until we have sent the findings to London for perusal by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU)," he said.

The ACU was set up last year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to root out corruption from the game after South African Hansie Cronje admitted to taking money from bookmakers.

Cronje and two other former Test captains -- India's Mohammad Azharuddin and Pakistan's Salim Malik -- have since been banned for life.

Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to their 1996 World Cup triumph, and de Silva, the country's most prolific scorer in Test cricket, were among several international players named in the report.

But Fernando's report said his findings were based on the successful defence mounted by both players and the failure of Indian bookmaker Muskesh Gupta to substantiate allegations that formed the basis of the Indian police report.

The ACU announced earlier this month that Gupta had failed to meet a July 1 deadline to back up the allegations.

Both Ranatunga and de Silva had flatly denied the charges by Gupta that they had received $15,000 from him to throw a 1994 Test against India at Lucknow.

Fernando's report said their denial of the charges under questioning had a "higher evidentiary value" than the "mere statement" of Gupta to Indian police. Former England captain Alec Stewart, also named by Gupta, was cleared of all match-fixing allegations last week after an ACU investigation found there was no evidence to support them.

Mail Cricket Editor