\n Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka appeared by video link in handcuffs at a Sydney court on Monday to seek bail after he was charged with four counts of sexual assault.\n<\/p>\n
\n Gunathilaka, who spoke only to confirm his identity, was shown on a screen in Downing Centre Local Court. He appeared calm as he sat wearing a grey T-shirt at a Sydney detention centre.\n<\/p>\n
\n The batter's lawyer, Ananda Amaranath, said he would seek bail for the 31-year-old.\n<\/p>\n
\n Magistrate Robert Williams briefly adjourned the case before hearing the bail application.\n<\/p>\n
\n The prosecution said it would seek to suppress publication of some elements that might identify the alleged victim.\n<\/p>\n
\n Police arrested and charged Gunathilaka on Sunday, hours after the national team lost to England at the Twenty20 World Cup.\n<\/p>\n
\n Gunathilaka was ruled out during the first round with a hamstring injury but had remained with the team in Australia.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was arrested at a hotel in Sydney in the early hours of Sunday and charged with four counts of sexual intercourse without consent.\n<\/p>\n
\n New South Wales state police said on Sunday sex crimes squad detectives had investigated the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Sydney's eastern suburbs last week.\n<\/p>\n
\n Police said the pair met after communicating for several days on a dating app.\n<\/p>\n
\n Detective Superintendent Jane Doherty, commander of the New South Wales state Sex Crimes Squad, said the pair had then arranged to meet.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"They had drinks and went for something to eat before going back to the young lady's home,\" Doherty told police.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said police would allege that \"the male assaulted the female a number of times whilst performing sexual acts upon her\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Sri Lanka's cricket board said it was following the case after being informed about the charges by the International Cricket Council (ICC).\n<\/p>\n
\n \"SLC will closely monitor the proceedings in court and, in consultation with the ICC, will expeditiously initiate a thorough inquiry into the matter and take stern action against the player if found guilty,\" it said in a statement\n<\/p>\n
\n Gunathilaka made his international debut in 2015 and has played eight Tests, 47 ODIs and 46 T20s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka appeared by video link in handcuffs at a Sydney court on Monday to seek bail after he was charged with four counts of sexual assault. Gunathilaka, who spoke only to confirm his identity, was shown on a screen in Downing Centre Local Court. He appeared calm as he sat wearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-108554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n