Mathews suspended for two ODIs for slow over-rate

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was handed a two-match suspension for maintaining a slow over-rate during his team's one-wicket defeat against India in the final of the Tri-series in Trinidad.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Sri Lankan team members were fined 40 per cent of their match fees, the ICC said in a release.

Match Referee David Boon imposed the suspension on Sri Lanka after they were ruled to be three overs short of their target at the end of the match.

The decision means Mathews will not be playing in the first two One-dayers of the five-match ODI home series against South Africa on July 20 and 23, respectively, at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Mathews pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction.

According to the ICC Code of Conduct, which deals with serious over-rate offences, the captain receives two suspension points while the players are fined 10-per-cent of their match fees for each of the first two overs short and 20-per-cent for every additional over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

Two suspension points in the Code equates to a suspension from one Test or two ODIs, to be applied to the subsequent international matches.

Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters