Updated 22.10
RICKY PONTING MAY be fortunate to escape with a fine after the ICC formally charged him for damaging a dressing-room TV on Monday.
Though the council may yet decide to impose a two-match ban on the Australian captain, such a strict sanction is unlikely as they have accepted that any damage caused was purely accidental.
The incident occurred during the Aussies’ opening fixture against Zimbawbe in Ahmedabad, a game which the defending champions won by 91 runs.
Ponting, who has been out of action for the past two months with a broken finger, scored 28 runs before he was run out by Zimbabwe’s Chris Mpofu. After seeing the incident replayed on TV in the dressing room, Ponting is reported to have accidentally damaged the set.
The secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association, Rajesh Patel, confirmed yesterday that the 36-year-old had been involved in an incident.
When Ponting was run out, he was perhaps frustrated. He threw his gloves straight at the TV. It was an LCD TV, which was properly damaged. We could not view anything so I had to replace it immediately.
We have photos of the incident and we have informed the BCCI about this incident. An Australian team captain should not behave in this manner
Following the BCCI’s submission of a report, the ICC decided to formally charge Ponting with a Level One offence earlier today. The Australian, who was informed of the board’s decision as he arrived with his team in Nagpur, accepted the charges.
Speaking earlier, ICC match referee Roshan Mahanama said “Ricky knows that his action was in breach of the code, involving a brief moment of frustration”.
That said, it was clear that the damage he caused was purely accidental and without malice, he apologised shortly after the incident at the ground and immediately agreed to pay for the damage.
The penalty for committing two Level One offences within a year is “a fine of between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of the applicable match fee and/or two suspension points”. Ponting was most recently charged with a Level One offence during the fourth test of the Ashes series on 26 December.
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