Thaindian News

Dhaka, March 26 (IANS) New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and fast bowler Kyle Mills, and South Africa’s Francois du Plessis have all been found to have breached the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct in an incident during the quarter-final of the World Cup here Friday.

Mills has been fined 60 percent of his match fee for breaching Article 2.2.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct which is a Level 2 offence relating to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players”.

He has also been fined a further 60 percent of his fee for breaching Article 2.2.11 of the code, a Level 2 offence which relates to conduct that is “contrary to the spirit of the game” or “brings the game into disrepute”.

Vettori has been fined 50 percent of his match fee, also for breaching Article 2.2.4 of the code and a further 40 percent of his match fee for breaching Article 2.1.8, which is a Level 1 offence that relates to conduct “contrary to the spirit of the game” or “brings the game into disrepute”.

Du Plessis, meanwhile, has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee for breaching Article 2.2.4 of the code (a Level 2 offence).

The incident occurred at the end of the 28th over of the South Africa innings when there was an altercation between du Plessis and some of the New Zealand players following the run out of AB de Villiers

Mills, who was not in the playing 11 for New Zealand, was on the field as a water carrier after a fall of wicket. With Vettori, he was involved in heated altercation and some pushing around with du Plessis.

The charges were laid by on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Rod Tucker, third umpire Kumar Dharmasena and fourth umpire Nigel Llong. They were considered by Match Referee Roshan Mahanama, who imposed the sanctions.

“It was a very important time of a crucial match for both sides but there is never any excuse for deliberate physical contact in international cricket. Vettori and Mills continued to act inappropriately and contrary to the spirit of the game throughout, hence the second charges were laid against them,” Mahanama said.

“In determining the punishment, I have taken into consideration the fact that none of these players has previously been involved in similar breaches of the code,” said Mahanama.

Mills pleaded not guilty to the charges and his case was thus considered in a full hearing by Mahanama in the presence of the four umpires, Mills and the New Zealand team manager.

He was found guilty after Mahanama heard oral submissions from Mills and the match officials and considered video evidence of the incident. Mills has a right to appeal both findings and has 24 hours from receipt of the decision to lodge a notice of appeal.

The other two players pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the proposed sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing in respect to those charges.