COLOMBO: Sri Lanka cricket chiefs on Tuesday raised a new match-fixing alert after ‘suspicious individuals’ were kicked out of a Twenty20 game.

Players have been warned to tell authorities of any attempt to approach them to fix matches, a Sri Lanka Cricket official said.

The move follows the detection of suspicious individuals at a Sri Lankan league game in Dambulla on Saturday, in which a Galle team led by Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne beat Dasun Shanaka’s Kandy.

“They appeared to be from sub-continent. Their excessive use of phones at the stadium aroused suspicion and they were ordered out,” the official said.

SLC said it had stepped up anti-corruption measures at T20s and team hotels. “SLC has also notified the team managers and the players taking part in the event to inform SLC immediately of any appro­ach by suspicious individuals,” the statement said.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2018