Sri Lanka suspend Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket following arrest

Sri Lanka have suspended batter Danushka Gunathilaka indefinitely after he was refused bail in a Sydney court after being charged over an alleged sexual assault.

Gunathilaka has been charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent while at the T20 World Cup in Australia.

The 31-year-old was taken into custody following his country's final World Cup game against England.

Gunathilaka was denied bail initially on Sunday, and was refused again on Monday in court.

A statement from Sri Lanka Cricket's governing board read: "The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket decided to suspend national player Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with immediate effect.

"Furthermore, Sri Lanka Cricket will take the necessary steps to promptly carry out an inquiry into the alleged offense, and, upon conclusion of the aforementioned court case in Australia, steps will be taken to penalize the said player if found guilty.

"Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to emphasize that it adopts a "zero tolerance" policy for any such conduct by a player and will provide all the required support to the Australian law enforcement authorities to carry out an impartial inquiry into the incident."

Gunathilaka was ruled out of the T20 World Cup through injury last month after facing Namibia and had remained in camp with the rest of the squad.

He only returned to the Sri Lanka team after a year-long ban for breaking bio-secure bubble conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic was lifted prematurely in January.

Gunathilaka was a member of the squad that won the Asia Cup in September, and had been expected to feature regularly across the T20 World Cup until his injury.