Stuart Broad fined 20% of match fee for Twitter comments

England seamer Stuart Broad has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee (around £2,000) after venting out his frustration over the controversial dismissal of Alex Hales on the opening day of the fourth Test against Pakistan at The Oval. Broad admitted to the offence and was found to have breached Article 2.1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, relating to “Public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an international match”.

Dean Wilson, cricket correspondent of the Daily Mirror’s tweet read, “THAT IS OUT – Hales (6) clips Amir to Yasir at mid-wkt who takes a low catch diving forward. Replays are unclear but umps say out. 23-1.” To which Stuart Broad vent his frustration and replied, “@CricketMirror replays are unclear? You don’t believe that do you?”

@CricketMirror replays are unclear? You don't believe that do you?

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) August 11, 2016

Explaining the decision, “One of the most fundamental principles of the sport is to always accept and respect an umpire’s decision,” ICC match referee, Richie Richardson said in a statement.

“In this case, Stuart ignored this golden rule and made inappropriate comments in regard to the umpires’ decision.”

Also read – I worked hard with my coach and it’s worked out well: Younis Khan

Earlier on Thursday, England opener Alex Hales has also been fined 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the opening day’s play at The Oval. Hales was found to have breached Article 2.1.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match”.

@StuartBroad8 @CricketMirror bit blurry to be fair! pic.twitter.com/cyP011id2V

— Alex Hales (@AlexHales1) August 11, 2016

At the end of Day-3 play, England are struggling to save this Test as they lost their top four wickets for 88 runs. Yasir Shah was pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as he picked three important scalps in the 2nd innings. Earlier in the day, Younis Khan went on to register his 6th double century as he gave an all important lead of 214 runs for Pakistan.