ADELAIDE - Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been fined 10% of his match fee for arguing with the umpires during the second final of the CB Series in Adelaide. Jayawardene was found to have breached Article 2.1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match”.
The incident happened during the 44th over of the Australia innings when Farveez Maharoof bowled a waist-high full toss to Michael Clarke, who pulled it to the square-leg boundary for a four. The umpire declared it a no-ball after a delay, but Jayawardene wasn’t pleased and had an animated discussion with both the on-field umpires, Asad Rauf and Bruce Oxenford.
Jayawardene said after the match that he wasn’t disputing the no-ball, only that the umpires took too long to call it. “I think I was the culprit, dragging it for too long. I thought initially the umpire didn’t make a call, and took too long,” Jayawardene said. “I had no issue with the no-ball. waist high or whatever. But I felt that after Michael (Clarke) had spoken to him, that’s when he had made the call. So I have been fined for that. That puts something in my report. That’s all.
” The ICC match referee, Chris Broad, said that Jayawardene pleaded guilty to the offence and apologised. “It is understandable that Mahela Jayawardene felt disappointed after Farveez Maharoof’s delivery, which had been dispatched for a boundary, was also declared as a no-ball for a full toss above waist height,” Broad said.
“But as one of the senior most players in world cricket today and also as the captain of his side, Jayawardene must maintain a certain level of self-control and clearly his actions went beyond what would be deemed acceptable.”