Former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya stresses integrity

The World Cup winner and ex-national selector was charged on Monday on two counts - "failure or refusal" to co-operate with an investigation carried out by the ACU and "obstructing or delaying" its work by concealing, tampering or destroying documentation or information.

He has now issued a carefully-worded statement in which he suggests "strict legal advice" prevents him from commenting fully before submitting his response to the ICC.

Jayasuriya does, though, add: "I have always conducted myself with integrity and transparency with matters concerning the sport and will continue to do so.

"I am under advice to state that the charges do not contain any allegations pertaining to match fixing, pitch fixing or any other corrupt activity. The charges allege that I have not been co-operative and not assisted the investigations."

Jayasuriya, who played 110 Tests, 445 one-day internationals and 31 Twenty20s, has been given 14 days from October 15 to respond to the charges.

His statement added: "The contents of the (ICC) letter which has been released to the media has caused a lot of speculation among the cricket loving public both domestically and internationally.

"Unfortunately, I am not in a position to release any comments at this moment as I am initially required to submit my response within 14 days. I am under strict legal advice that no comment is to be made in respect of the above charges as such a course would offend the ICC rules.

"My legal team is in the process of drafting my response and I would make a further release upon the submission of the said response."

England's Moeen Ali, speaking on the eve of the third one-day international against Sri Lanka in Kandy, revealed his dismay at the news and the reminder it provided the tourists to be aware of the threat of corruption.

"You're obviously disappointed for the game, but you don't know what's going on really and you try to get on with what your job is here," he told Test Match Special.

"You make sure you are more aware as a player of the things you need to look out for. We have these meetings two or three times a year (with the ICC) when we are told what to look out for and it just reminds you to be really vigilant.

"I think the way the guys are we're a close knit unit. We don't allow anything coming in. We just get on with the game and play the best cricket we can, make our supporters proud of us and make them want to watch us play cricket."

Sri Lanka team manager Charith Senanayake earlier stepped in to prevent all-rounder Dasun Shanaka from speaking about Jayasuriya.

Senanayake said: "We have decided the players will not answer any questions with regard to Sanath. It is not a distraction because Sanath has no role to play with the squad at the moment. As a team and a board we cannot comment on the whole saga."

Jayasuriya, 49, was the player of the tournament when Sri Lanka won the 1996 World Cup and served as captain from 1999 to 2003.

As his playing career was winding down, he entered politics and served on the Sri Lankan parliament from 2010 to 2015, while he resigned as a member of the selection committee in August last year.

It was announced earlier this month that Alex Marshall, general manager of the ICC's anti-corruption unit, was overseeing a probe into potential corrupt practices over "serious allegations" in Sri Lanka.