Dickwella suspended for two limited-overs matches

Sri Lanka’s promising young opener Niroshan Dickwella has been suspended for two limited-overs internationals following him showing dissent at an erroneous decision by the umpire.

The incident occurred during the second T20I between Sri Lanka and Australia in Geelong. Umpire Simon Fry declared Dickwella out when the southpaw tried to scoop James Faulkner over his head. However, replays showed that the ball had ricocheted off his shoulder rather than off his bat.

Dickwella, understandably disappointed by the flawed decision, showed dissent which breached the code of conduct for players. As a result, Dickwella was fined 30% of his match fee and was given two demerit points.

The ICC said in a statement that after being given out, Dickwella “paused to view the replay, kicked the turf and looked at his shoulder for a prolonged period of time.”

The left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman earned three demerit points when he and Kagiso Rabada made physical contact with each other during the fourth ODI between Sri Lanka and South Africa and the latest two demerit points added to his tally means that Dickwella will not be able to take part in two limited-overs matches.

This renders Dickwella unavailable for the third and the final T20I between Sri Lanka and Australia to be played in Adelaide. Sri Lanka already has an opener in their ranks in Dilshan Munaweera and either Dasun Shanaka or Lakshan Sandakan can be expected to fill the void left by Dickwella. Given Sri Lanka’s struggle with the bat in the 2^nd T20I and their decent bowling efforts in the first two T20Is, Dasun Shanaka is most likely to find himself a spot in the final XI.

It is noteworthy that Dickwella was fined 10% of his match fee on his debut for claiming an unfair catch.