Former Sri Lankan cricketer, Dulip Samaraweera, was handed a 20-year ban after being found guilty of a ‘serious breach’ of Cricket Australia’s (CA) Code of Conduct. The ban will prevent him from holding any position within the Australia Cricket Board, the state associations, BBL, or WBBL clubs. Samaraweera served as the assistant coach for both Victoria Women and Melbourne Stars for a long period before getting promoted to the senior coach position of Victoria Women’s. The Colombo-born joined Cricket Victoria in 2008 and had been with the Melbourne Stars since the first season of WBBL in 2015.
Two weeks following his appointment as the senior coach, the former cricketer resigned after being denied hiring his own brother, Thilan Samaraweera, in his support team as his wish disputed the state’s conflict of interest policy. However, he continued working for both teams as the assistant coach until now when Cricket Victoria announced the news of his sacking and ban.
While the details were not revealed, the retired batter is understood to have engaged in inappropriate behavior with a player, breaching section 2.23 of CA’s Code of Conduct which includes,
“conduct that either: (a) is contrary to the Spirit of Cricket; (b) is unbecoming of a representative or official; (c) is or could be harmful to the interests of cricket; or (d) does or could bring the game of cricket into disrepute.”
The ban was announced after an investigation by CA’s integrity department. The department then forwarded the case to the CA Code of Conduct Commission.
Cricket Victoria’s CEO, Nick Cummins, accepted and supported the Commission’s decision, calling Dulip Samaraweera’s actions ‘utterly reprehensible’.
“We strongly support the decision taken by the Code of Conduct Commission today, banning Dulip Samaraweera for 20 years. It is our view that the conduct was utterly reprehensible and a betrayal of everything we stand for at Cricket Victoria.”
He further praised the victim, who reportedly spoke up and forced the commission to start an investigation against the 52-year-old.
“The victim in this case has demonstrated incredible strength of character and courage in speaking up. She will continue to receive our ongoing support to allow her to achieve her goals on and off the field. From an organizational perspective, the safety and well-being of everyone at Cricket Victoria is paramount. We will not tolerate any behavior which compromises that position, or our people, and will always support our culture of speaking up.”
Todd Greenberg, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, also backed the decision and said that ‘every possible measure’ needs to be taken to avoid such a thing to happen again in the future.
“These are extremely serious findings that may shock and upset many in the cricket community,” said Greenberg.
“The safety and wellbeing of our members remains paramount. The leaders in Australian cricket now need to ensure that every possible measure is taken to ensure things like this never happen again. We have raised this imperative with Cricket Australia.”
Dulip Samaraweera represented Sri Lanka in seven Test matches and five ODIs before retiring.
