Niroshan Dickwella docked match points for his stumping appeal against Solomon Mire

What’s the story?

Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella has been docked 30 percent of his match fees for going up in a belated appeal against Zimbabwe opener Solomon Mire in the first ODI at Galle on Friday.

"Dickwella admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing," an ICC release said.

The Details

This incident took place in the 7^th over of the Zimbabwe chase when off-spinner Akila Dananjaya fired one ball down the leg side and the Mire missed his attempted flick and the ball went through to the wicket-keeper.

Dickwella collected the ball and waited for the batsman to overbalance at the crease before his whipped off the bails and went up in a stumping appeal. The on-field umpire referred it to the third umpire but Mire’s foot was back behind the crease and he was adjudged not out.

However, this event was not taken too keenly by the ICC match referee and was deemed to be against the ‘spirit of the game’, since many believed that the ball was already dead when the keeper collected it after it had passed the batsman and he waited for him to lose his balance.

As a result, the southpaw was handed 2 demerit points.

In case you didn’t know...

Zimbabwe created history by chasing down a record total against Sri Lanka when they overhauled a mammoth 316 at Galle.

However, this incident dented the hosts further as this is not the first time Dickwella has been booked by the match officials.

Earlier this year, he received three demerit points for colliding with South African bowler Kagiso Rabada during the Cape Town ODI. Also, he was handed two more demerit points in the same month when he showed dissent against umpire Simon Fry.

With a total of 5 demerit points, he was banned for 2 International matches.

What's next?

Dickwella has to be careful with this on-field behaviour as he has already collected 2 demerit points and any further infringement could land him in a real soup.

He could face a similar fate if he gets any further demerit points over the next 2 years.

Author's Take

This is not the first time any keeper has paused before taking off the bails and this judgement appears to be slightly bizarre as Dickwella could be given the benefit of the doubt.

However, with the ICC being very strict with their disciplinary proceedings lately, Dickwella will have to tread this path with a lot of caution as he has become an important member of the Sri Lankan team.