Sri Lankans involved in gambling firms will be barred from the nation's cricket governing body as officials bid to eradicate match-fixing scandals that have dogged the sport, the government said Thursday. Sri Lankan cricket has been mired in corruption scandals in recent years, including claims of match-fixing ahead of an international Test against England last year.

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Sports Minister Harin Fernando cracks the whip

Sports Minister Harin Fernando said he was introducing regulations to bring the country in line with International Cricket Council (ICC) provisions that ban individuals with connections to gambling firms from being involved in the sport's administration. "From now on, anyone who is involved in betting or has a close relative involved in betting will not be able to hold office," Fernando told reporters in Colombo.

The changes appear aimed at the former president of Sri Lanka Cricket, Thilanga Sumathipala, whose family owns a gambling business. Sumathipala, a controversial businessman and politician, is an executive committee member of Sri Lanka Cricket. He has repeatedly denied involvement in the gambling side of the family business.

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Sri Lanka Cricket Board's association with corruption

Fernando said earlier this year that the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world's most corrupt cricketing nations, adding the sport's local governance was riddled with graft "from top to bottom". In November, former Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige was suspended for corruption linked to a limited-over league in 2017. He was the third Sri Lankan player charged for violating the ICC's anti-corruption code, following charges leveled against the former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, and former paceman Nuwan Zoysa. Jayasuriya was found guilty of failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and was banned for two years, while Zoysa was suspended over the match-fixing accusations. 

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Sri Lanka look to move up on ICC rankings with a win

Sri Lanka will move up to the number five of the official ICC rankings if they win the second Test and the series. More importantly, it will give them a strong start in the World Test Championship.

Wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella was confident his team will put on a good show. "We want to win against the world's number two ranked team. It's going to be a different game here and fast bowlers will come into play a lot," he said. "It's a big challenge. Having won one game, we have a big responsibility to win the series. We need to keep making good decisions at crunch moments," Dickwella told journalists.

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