Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva are the latest players to have been cleared of the match-fixing charges made by bookmaker Mukesh Gupta's in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report.

According to Gupta, De Silva and former captain Ranatunga had agreed to under-perform in the Lucknow Test Match against India in 1994 and de Silva had been paid US$15,000 after the game. Gupta further alleged that the pair had been willing "to do" other Tests.

Desmond Fernando, however, appointed by the Sri Lankan board to investigate the allegations in November last year, was unable to question or cross-examine Gupta and was therefore forced to accept the testimonies of the players.

Fernando handed over his report to the Sri Lankan board this week and is believed to have recommended that no action be taken against the two players.

This follows the news that England wicket-keeper Alec Stewart, accused by Gupta of accepting US$5000 for providing pitch, weather and team information, was also cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board after Gupta's steadfast refusal to face legal cross-examination by the Lord Condon's ICC Anti-Corruption Unit

The Sri Lankan enquiry focused entirely on the claims made by Gupta. No independent evidence was uncovered and cross-examinations were restricted to the two players directly concerned and present captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who is believed to have turned down an offer of US$500,000 to fix an international game.

Extracts from his report, published in the Sunday Times this weekend, reveal that Fernando described Gupta's CBI statement as "inadequate and untested" and believed that there were "infirmities which rendered his statement impossible to be acted upon".

"In my view, the inquiry held by me has a higher evidentiary value than the mere statement of Mr Gupta. His statement lacked precision," he argues, pointing to the failure to state where the conversations took place, where the money was handed over to de Silva and whether it had been handed over in cash or otherwise.

"On the other hand, I saw the two cricketers, I heard them giving evidence, and they also indicated their willingness to answer any question put by me."

De Silva admits to having established a relationship with Gupta and identified him from a photograph during his interview. Ranatunga was not so certain, saying that he might have met Gupta, but he was not sure that he could remember the face.

Describing Gupta as a person with "an immense knowledge of cricket", De Silva reveals that he first met Gupta in India, but was not introduced to him by Manoj Prabhakar, as is alleged. The first meeting was apparently casual and after that Gupta would sometimes phone de Silva in Sri Lanka.

He categorically denies having agreed to under-perform or having accepted money, claiming: "We did not perform as a team. We did not produce the goods and that was the reason for our debacle."

De Silva does though refer an incident, "in 1996 or 1997," when he was contacted by Gupta and asked to meet an associate, who was trying to organise a series of exhibition matches. When de Silva met this man in his hotel room the subject quickly turned to fixing the match the following day.

De Silva claims to have ended the meeting immediately and contacted the team manager, Duleep Mendis, who then ordered a team meeting to warn the players. Mendis has confirmed to Fernando that de Silva had approached him.

After that incident, De Silva says: "Every time he called I used to say, 'please don't call', because I had a little bit of doubt. I just wanted to try and keep away from him."

Ranatunga has vehemently denied the allegations all along, which he argued were "based entirely on the wholly uncorroborated evidence of a self-confessed rogue". In a characteristically abrasive letter shortly after his interview, he described the allegations as "patently ridiculous", arguing that Gupta's statement was riddled with logical shortcomings.

Most colourfully, he alludes to the apparent failure to set a price before the alleged under-performance, stating: "Even Judas Iscariot agreed upon a price of 30 pieces of silver before he betrayed Jesus Christ!"

In Fernando's report Ranatunga explains away his and de Silva's failure (both batsmen scored an aggregate of 33 runs in their four innings) as the result of poor umpiring: "Both of us were two batsmen only. The umpiring had been terrible. So I was one of the victims on this particular one."

After the disastrous tour the Sri Lanka board launched an internal inquiry, later called the Skanda Kumar report. The report, which was highly critical of Ranatunga's captaincy and de Silva's attitude towards other team members, stated that: "There is evidence that a bookmaker of Indian origin has attempted to make his presence felt in the national cricket scene." Ranatunga denied to Fernando any knowledge of the bookmaker referred to in the report.

Fernando's final report will now be analysed by the Sri Lankan board. No official statement has so far been given and it is not known as to whether Fernando has recommended a general inquiry into matching fixing in Sri Lanka.

© CricInfo Ltd.