Sri Lanka skipper charged with ball-tampering by ICC

The ICC has formally charged Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal with ball tampering after controversy marred day three of the second Test against the West Indies in St Lucia.

The global governing body tweeted the news, detailing that the captain was in breach of Level 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for 'changing the condition of the ball - the same charge leveled at Australia batter Cameron Bancroft during the infamous Cape Town Test in March.

Umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould ruled that the tourists had altered the condition of the ball at Gros Islet.

The match eventually resumed after a two-hour delay, but Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have said the players are effectively continuing with the game "under protest".

There were animated discussions involving match referee Javagal Srinath and the Sri Lankan pair of coach Chandika Hathurusingha and team manager Asanka Gurusinha. Their players protested the charge and the subsequent penalty of a ball change and the award of five extra runs to the opposition by refusing to take the field at the start of the third day's play.

Five penalty runs were added to the West Indies total.

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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the team had denied any wrongdoing.

The umpires took the call to change the ball on Saturday morning and that angered the Sri Lankan team.

He lost the company of Chase in the final over the session as Sri Lanka struck immediately upon taking the second new ball when the all-rounder, on 41, flicked a full-length delivery to Suranga Lakmal at midwicket.

It was communication with the board in Colombo which finally persuaded Chandimal and his team to continue with the match. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has now made a decision to charge Chandimal for breaching Level 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

The latest ball-tampering incident comes months after the infamous scandal in Newlands, Cape Town that rocked the cricketing world and led to the suspension of Australian cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. "But they were informed by SLC to not to forfeit the game", an SLC source told Cricbuzz. But fast bowler Lahiru Kumara took the most wickets, four.