Former Sri Lanka Test player Dulip Samaraweera has been banned from working in Australian cricket for 20 years after he was found to have behaved inappropriately towards a female player.
Samaraweera had held various roles within Cricket Victoria’s women’s program for almost 16 years, including as a long-time assistant coach at the WBBL’s Melbourne Stars, before resigning in May.
Cricket Victoria received a complaint from the player relating to conduct that occurred during Samaraweera’s time on the staff, referring that complaint to Cricket Australia’s (CA) code of conduct commission.
AAP understands the complainant has not yet opted to pursue criminal charges.
Cricket Victoria has offered counselling to the player, who remains in line to feature this summer.
Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins labelled Samaraweera’s conduct “utterly reprehensible” and “a betrayal of everything we stand for” after CA released the findings of its investigation on Thursday afternoon.
The seven-time Test player was found to have committed a “serious breach” of clause 2.23 of the code of conduct, which concerns conduct “contrary to the spirit of cricket, is unbecoming of a representative or official, is or could be harmful to the interests of cricket, or does or could bring the game of cricket into disrepute”.
As part of his ban, Samaraweera is unable to hold any position within Cricket Australia or governing bodies of the game at state or territory level for two decades.
The suspension effectively ends Samaraweera’s professional career in Australia; he will be 72 by the time he is eligible to coach again.
“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,” Cummins said.
“From an organisation perspective, the safety and wellbeing of everyone at Cricket Victoria is paramount.
“We will not tolerate any behaviour which compromises that position, or our people, and will always support our culture of speaking up.”
CA’s verdict received support from the Australian Cricketers’ Association, the players’ union.
“These are extremely serious findings that may shock and upset many in the cricket community,” said chief executive Todd 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.”
Colombo-born Samaraweera opened the batting in seven Tests for Sri Lanka between 1993 and 1995 before being dropped over form concerns.
He joined Cricket Victoria as batting coach for the women’s program in 2008, mentoring such greats of the game as Meg Lanning, Rachael Haynes and Ellyse Perry.
He was an assistant coach with the Stars from the inaugural WBBL season in 2015 and briefly served as Victoria’s head coach last summer.
Samaraweera had been due to take over full-time but resigned in May when Cricket Victoria’s conflict of interest policy prevented him from hiring his brother, former Sri Lanka international Thilan, to the coaching staff.
