Sri Lanka suspended three players, including vice-captain Kusal Mendis, and removed them from the upcoming One-day international series in England over a breach of their coronavirus bio-secure bubble protocols.
Kusal and Niroshan Dickwella were seen smoking in the streets of ‘Chester-le-Street’, ahead of first One-day international at the Riverside Ground.
In a second video on social media, opening batsman Danushka Gunathilaka can be seen enjoying with the two, violating the Covid protocols in England.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the three players were suspended from all forms of the game until an inquiry was completed.
The board said, “This decision was taken following a preliminary inquiry conducted over a video posted on social media in which the said three players can be seen outside their designated hotel,”
A cricket board source told that not a single player was supposed to go out of their hotel.
The source said, “The three players have been asked to return home today,”
He added, “They can no longer return to the bubble because that could be a risk for other players.”
England pacer Mark Wood admitted the infringement and stated that top-notch players must be careful and avoid jeopardizing their game.
Wood said, “It’s disappointing from them, and they’re pretty good players as well, unfortunately.
“But we are going to have to make sure we are doubly on it now because little slips like this can put the whole thing in jeopardy,”
He added, “We were told that in Durham the Covid levels are particularly high, so we have to back off a little bit. We weren’t allowed in restaurants, coffee shops, or anything like that.
“Not even sitting outside or anything like that. So we stripped it right back.
“I don’t know what their team measures are, what they have been told. I don’t know if theirs is laxer than ours — every team is different — but we have taken this very seriously and appointed a Covid security officer who tells us what we can and can’t do.”
“At times, it is hard for some of the lads because they want to get out and do things but in a hotspot like Durham we have to be a little bit more rigid.”
Sri Lanka is due to play three ODI matches against England after being swept 3-0 by the hosts in preceding the Twenty20 International series that finished on Saturday, where England cruising to a thumping 89-runs victory in Southampton.
Disgruntled fans launched a drive to shun the team on social media after they slumped to a dismal fifth consecutive Twenty20 series defeat.
According to the reports, the hashtag #unfollowcricketers began to trend on Facebook as thousands of fans boycotted the social media pages of Kusal and Danushka.
Fans also shared memes asking each other not to watch the national team game.
There was no immediate reaction from any of the senior players, but some observers posted that the performance in England was one of the team’s worst, in the three decades.
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