COLOMBO (Sri Lanka) - Sri Lanka umpires yesterday adopted the sort of lenient approach you might expect from an 'old boys' club when they gave one of their members, D N Pathirana, a light tap over the knuckles by handing down a one-match ban for breaking International Cricket Council regulations.

Although found guilty by an umpires committee the man in the middle of the Adam Gilchrist run out rumpus in Galle on Sunday escaped lightly with was almost a 'pardon' when the committee recommended to the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka the one match suspension for comments made to the media.

Pathirana, the third umpire for the opening match of the Aiwa Cup triangular series, not only dawdled when making his decision, he attempted to justify his mistake as well. According to man who has made the worst umpiring blunder this series he 'viewed it from all angles' no doubt conveniently forgetting the Sri Lanka wicketkeeper, Romesh Kaluwitharana dropped the ball when trying to break the wicket.

But that's a small matter, which throws in to doubt the competency of the 57-year-old Sri Lankan to sit behind the monitor and make a decision not in accordance with the laws.

So, in finding the man guilty, the committee suspends him from Sunday's game between Sri Lanka and India at the Sinhalese Sports Club instead of banning him for the remainder of the series and withdrawing his name from the panel of international umpire officials.

Naturally the board accepted the committee's viewpoint and the 'punishment' is likely to sweep the issue of Pathirana's ability under the carpet instead of tackling it head on. It means that batsmen who know of Pathirana's reputation will have little to no confidence in his ability to accurately judge on line decisions when he is placed in control of the monitor again.