Related Links : ICC Champions Trophy 2006 : Scorecard
West Indies Star player, Chris Gayle has been fined as expected by ICC Match Referee Mike Procter for his misconduct during yesterday’s Group A match against Australia. Gayle has been fined 30% of his match fees following his continuous verbal exchanges with Michael Clarke. Clarke has been found not guilty of the same charges. West Indies had won yesterday’s match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai by a slender margin of 10 runs following fast bowler Jerome Taylor’s hat-tick.
Australia in their chase of 235 were in the driver’s seat as Michael Clarke supported the well set Adam Gilchrist with a hundred run partnership for the fifth wicket. Chris Gayle seemed to have been provoked by some earlier incident which had changed the behaviour of an otherwise laid back character. Almost every ball that was bowled, Gayle would have made it a point to walk past Michael Clarke and have his say in a sarcastic manner. There was a moment when Gayle had something long to say to Clarke before brushing his shoulders against Clarke’s. The two ground umpires Mark Benson and Rudi Koertzen didn’t get too involved and the confrontation just carried on little longer than expected creating a particular interest in the match. When Australia had lost Gilchrist through a throw from short thirdman to Gayle, the bowler waiting at the non-striker’s end, there was wild celebration from Gayle as he charged forward to throw the ball miles up in the air. The entire episode looked embarrassing from Gayle’s point of view at one moment when he had hurled the ball straight over Michael Clarke’s head after fielding a push, it was no way near Carlton Baugh, the keeper and it was four overthrows gifted away to the Aussies in a tight situation! However Taylor’s hat-trick had ensured that Windies won this match in the end.
According to Mike Procter, Chris Gayle has been found guilty of a breach of C 1 of the Code of Conduct which is failing to “conduct play within the spirit of the game”. Procter after the hearing had stated that “what started off as banter between the two players got out of hand and Chris Gayle went over the top in his reactions,” . “We do not want robots on the field and we want to ensure players play with enthusiasm and passion. We saw a great deal of that during an excellent match on Wednesday but there is a line between what is acceptable and what is not and Chris crossed it.”