Stuart Broad has become the second England cricketer to be fined during the fourth Test with Pakistan, having been relieved of 20% of his match fee – around £2,000 – for questioning a decision on social media.
Broad’s punishment is greater than that given to his team-mate Alex Hales, who received a 15% fine after walking into the third umpire’s office to argue about his dismissal in England’s first innings and relates to a tweet he published regarding the same incident on day one.
Replying to a message from the Daily Mirror’s cricket correspondent, Dean Wilson, which stated replays of the low catch by Pakistan’s Yasir Shah that removed Hales were “unclear”, Broad wrote: “replays are unclear? You don’t believe that do you?”
Hales also replied to the message with a still image of the contested catch and the comment “bit blurry to be fair!” but he is not expecting an additional punishment to the one given for making “inappropriate comments” in person to the third umpire, Joel Wilson.
While Hales saw his fine made public during the second day of the Test, the decision on Broad was delayed while the fast bowler considered challenging it.
This would have meant a hearing with the ICC match referee, Richie Richardson – the official who issued the charge – and had he done so and been unsuccessful, the result would have been a doubling of the fine handed down.
Explaining his decision, Richardson said: “One of the most fundamental principles of the sport is to always accept and respect an umpire’s decision. In this case, Stuart ignored this golden rule and made inappropriate comments in regard to the umpires’ decision.”
While Broad, whose fine was greater due to it being a public show of dissent, is a linchpin of England’s attack with 358 wickets from his 98 Tests, Hales’ future in the side is less certain following a second failure in the match on the third day at The Oval.
Having been given out lbw to Yasir for 12 as Alastair Cook’s side stumbled to 88 for four at the close – still 126 runs behind – the opener faces a nervous wait to discover whether or not he will be selected for the tours to Bangladesh and India this winter.
