Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting was run out during the match against Zimbabwe on the 21st after having scored a 28 off 36 balls with some excellent work by the Zimbabwean Chris Mpofu.
Angry at having lost his wicket after having done the hard work Ponting was seen to be mumbling while returning to the pavilion. To vent his anger the Australian Captain threw his gloves at an LCD television in the dressing room which damaged some parts of the television rendering the device useless.
Ponting has been out of match practice as he had injured his finger during the fourth test against England in the Ashes, which had eventually kept him out of the T20 as well as the ODI tournament against England.
After the injury, Ponting played his first official match in the practice match against India where the 36 year old scored 57 runs off 85 balls, which eventually went in vain with Australia’s 38 run defeat. So the veteran would have had loved to get going in their first Cup match and had got on to a good start in trying to do so.
Initially when the matter was reported to the media by Gujarat Cricket Association secretary Rajesh Patel, there were doubts if the matter would be taken any further, as Ponting had apologized for his mistake immediately after the incident and had agreed to pay for the damage caused.
However Gujarat Cricket Association did report the incident to the BCCI, who sent an official complaint to the ICC. The ICC in its follow up through the match referee Roshan Mahanama charged Ponting with Level 1 breach of ICC’s code of conduct under the clause 2.1.2 of the code which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match”.
The charge was brought by the chairman of the Event Technical Committee David Richardson on behalf of the ICC executive and thence the charge was communicated to Ricky Ponting. Ponting raised no objection to the charge and accepted the proposed sanction which meant that there was no need for a hearing. He has been officially reprimanded and may be charged 50 percent of his match fee under the penalties stated in the clause.
Match Referee Roshan Mahanama of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees said “Ricky knows that his action was in breach of the code, involving a brief moment of frustration.”
One would have to commend the dignity of the Australian captain who accepted his fault, unlike the stubbornness that one would usually expect from an Australian player. Ricky did not waste any of the ICC’s precious time in going in for a hearing which would have given him some time to dilute the matter.
Tags: Australia, Chris Mpofu, Cricket, ICC, Match Referee, Ricky Ponting, Roshan Mahanama, World Cup, Zimbabwe
