Match referees curb indiscipline

Sri Lanka Cricket's (SLC) move to appoint match referees for every match of the Premier and Sara trophy tournaments for the 2006-07 domestic season has so far checked the shocking state of indiscipline among players which was evident in the past.

What prompted the move was the unruly display of five players and the coach of Panadura SC in a Premier league match against Sebastianites at De Soysa Park last season where an umpire was assaulted.

One of the players allegedly threw a cricket ball at one of the umpires over a decision when he came to the pavilion during a break. The umpire was hit on the arm and was in such a state of shock that he could not continue and had to be replaced by his standby for the rest of the match.

Four Panadura SC players, the captain and the coach received suspensions ranging from two matches to five years. While four of the players have already served their punishment and are eligible to play, the coach is serving a one year ban and the captain a ban of five years from any level of cricket conducted by SLC.

Last season, SLC had match referees officiating only in the final rounds and this incident took place in a preliminary round game.

This season the harshest punishment meted to a player so far is a fine of 15 per cent of his match fee which was slapped on Ruchira Palliyaguru of Saracens SC. Seven other have been either officially reprimanded or issued sever warnings for their respective offences. They are Nilakshan Abeyratne (Saracens), Jeevantha Kulatunga (Colts), Nalin Wijesinghe (Saracens), Nuwan Zoysa (SSC), Anushka Polonowita (SSC), Sajith Fernando (Tamil Union) and Manjula Fernando (Sebastianites).

All these incidents have been Level 1 charges. Any repetition of such acts by any of these players during the season will amount to a Level 2 charge which could carry match bans and fines.

"The appointment of match referees for all the matches has given the umpires more muscle," said manager (umpires) Ronnie Guneratne. "It has more or less clamped down on indiscipline among cricketers to a great degree.

"There is a big improvement from 75 percent to about 90 percent on reports we receive from captains and match referees. Whereas in the past it took about a week for us to receive the reports we have now streamlined it in a way that we receive it within 48 hours. This gives us an opportunity to inquire and disperse off cases much quicker than in the past when it dragged on for months."