Sri Lankan cricketer Nuwan Kulasekara was arrested on Monday, 19 September after being involved in a road accident that killed a 28-year-old person on the island. The medium-pace bowler was released on bail later in the evening after police confirmed that Kulasekara was not at fault.

The 34-year-old was on the A-1 highway when a motorcyclist travelling in the opposite direction hit a barrier dividing the lanes and crashed into the cricketer's vehicle. There has been no immediate comment from the bowler, but reports indicate that he was shaken by the incident.

"Sri Lanka Cricket expresses its sincere condolences on the tragic demise of a 28-year-old youth in an accident involving Sri Lanka cricketer Nuwan Kulasekera earlier today. Preliminary inquiries have revealed that Mr Kulasekera was returning to Colombo from Kandy, when the unfortunate motorcycle rider who was travelling in the opposite direction had lost control of the bike whilst trying to overtake a bus and got flung into Mr Kulasekera's path," a Sri Lanka Cricket release said.

"Mr Kulasekera is currently enlarged on bail by the Kadawatha Chief Magistrate pending completion of the investigation."

The fast-medium bowler has played 21 Tests, 173 One Day Internationals and 50 Twenty20 games for Sri Lanka since making his debut against England in 2003. The 34-year-old announced his retirement from Test cricket earlier this year in June to concentrate on the shorter formats of the game.

Kulasekera had a modest Test record, taking 48 wickets during his time but it was in the limited overs format that he really shone, picking up 186 wickets in 173 games. His peak arguably came during an 11-month period starting April 2008 where he picked up 47 wickets which helped propel him to the No 1 spot on the ICC rankings.

Kulasekera was last seen in action when he represented county side Sussex in the English T20 Natwest Blast earlier this year.

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BY M. DIVYA SRI