The West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo has been fined by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after criticising officials over Chris Gayle’s dismissal in the second one-day international against England.
Opening batsman Gayle had made 53 in just 51 balls, when he was given out lbw to England offspinner Graeme Swann by New Zealand umpire Tony Hill at The Oval on Tuesday.
Gayle called for a review but third umpire Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka, after several minutes’ study, decided there was not enough evidence to overturn Hill’s original verdict.
It seemed a close call either way as to whether the ball had hit the bat or pad first but the upshot was that Gayle’s exit sparked a collapse in which the West Indies declined from 0-63 to 4-79.
Bravo, who top-scored for the tourists with 77, said the umpires had made a mistake following an eight-wicket defeat that gave England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
“It’s okay – umpires do make mistakes. That’s accepted – but not when they see the referral as well and realise they’ve made the wrong decision and then stand by it,” Bravo told a post-match news conference on Tuesday.
“It was a game-changing moment, and it was always difficult then to get a big total. If the decision had gone a different way, it might have been a different ball game.”
Bravo was fined 20 per cent of his match fee on Friday for a level-one offence under the section of the ICC’s code of conduct which covers “inappropriate public comment”.
The allrounder pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing.
“Dwayne unfortunately went over the mark in describing the Chris Gayle decision and used comments that criticised both the on-field and TV umpire,” said match referee Jeff Crowe, the former New Zealand captain.
Friday’s third and final one-day international at Headingley was washed out without a ball being bowled.
The West Indies end their tour with a Twenty20 international against England in Nottingham on Sunday.