Bangladesh v England: Stuart Broad escapes fine with umpire apology
Mar 17 2010 - 17:43:26
England's Stuart Broad has pushed the bounds of acceptable behaviour on a cricket pitch before but by apologising immediately to Umpire Rod Tucker, after breaking the ICC's code of Conduct on celebrating a wicket before it has been given out, he spared himself a visit to the cashpoint.
The batsman in question was Abdur Razzak, a left-hander of no great repute in Bangladesh's lower order. Graeme Swann had just dismissed the adhesive Mushfiqur Rahim and was sniffing imminent victory when Broad got one to reverse-swing from around the wicket to have Razzak lbw.
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'I obviously got a bit carried away and I said sorry to the umpire straightaway,' Broad said yesterday at the team's hotel in Dhaka. 'He accepted my apology and just laughed it off. He knew it had been a frustrating morning for us in the field.'
A feisty cricketer, Broad has come close to censure several times though never to the point of being punished. In a recent column, Sunil Gavaskar opined that umpires were afraid of punishing him because his father Chris is an ICC match referee. Chittagong was Tucker's second Test and any leniency on his part was due to inexperience not fear.
Broad reckoned this was the first time he'd ever transgressed in such a way but ICC have punished others for doing the same thing. South Africa's Charl Langeveldt was fined 20 percent of is match fee the first time he did it and 75 percent for the second, while both Kyle Mills and West Indies' Pedro Collins have contributed the ICC coffers.
'It wasn't anything offensive and nobody else mentioned it to me after the game,' said Broad. 'I've not seen the TV replays. The match referee hasn't come to me so it's no an issue for him, me, the team, or the umpires, so that's the end of it.'
Broad wasn't the only one whose on-field behaviour was questioned during the Test. Graeme Swann sent Junaid Siddique in his way with a few not so choice words, though like Broad he was quick to show contrition, something no doubt easier to do when you are taking as many wickets as he is at present.
Swann's ten in the match has taken him to second place in the Test rankings the highest place for an England bowler since Steve Harmison briefly sat atop the pile six years ago.
His haul at Chittagong was thought to be the first in double figures for an English off-spinner since Jim Laker's against Australia in 1956, though Tony Grieg's 13 wickets against the West Indies in Trinidad muddies the waters.
Grieg was not picked as a specialist off-spinner but did bowl something between off-spin and off-cut on a crumbling pitch in Port-of Spain in 1973/4. Either way, it's a long time since an England side has possessed one as dominant as Swann.
Thirty-one next week, his rise has been spectacular given that he is an off-spinner without a doosra (he did toss in a few leg-breaks on the final day in Chittagong though), a species thought on the brink of extinction five years ago.
His success, not just as a reliable foil to the pacemen but as a match-winner, has transformed England's prospects abroad in places like Bangladesh, where bowling is tough work. He isn't finished yet either and with the pitch for Saturday's second Test in Dhaka having a reputation for turn, Swann will be looking to add yet another match-turning haul.
'He's got six five-wicket hauls in the last year and he's been fantastic,' said Broad. 'He had to wait a long time for his chance, spending eight years in the wilderness as he calls it. But since he's come back he's responded brilliantly.
'He's dangerous, too, especially in his first over where he seems to get a wicket every time. The whole side is delighted for him to be at number two. Hopefully, he'll keep moving up and get to number one at some stage.'
