Gunawardene and Lokuarachchi cleared of misconduct

Avishka Gunawardene and Kaushal Lokuarachchi have finally been cleared of drunken misconduct during the ICC Champions Trophy in England last year after a disciplinary inquiry unearthed no evidence to substantiate newspaper allegations.

A Colombo newspaper broke the story shortly after Sri Lanka were eliminated from the tournament, reporting allegations that some players had been seen drunk in the team hotel midway through the first-round game against England, which continued the following day because of rain.

Cricinfo soon established that Sri Lanka Cricket's investigations were centring on Gunawardene and Lokuarachchi, and the pair were briefly "rested" from the national squad after the board announced that a disciplinary inquiry, chaired by Michael de Zoysa, would investigate the allegations. But no witnesses came forward and the case was soon closed.

"No-one was prepared to give evidence and there was absolutely no evidence to substantiate the article's allegations," Duleep Mendis, Sri Lanka Cricket's chief executive, told reporters on Thursday.