| Player: | S Sreesanth, RS Mahanama, DJ Harper, MR Benson, RS Dravid, KH Hurter, HM Amla |
DateLine: 20th December 2006
India seam bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth has been fined 30 percent of his match fee after being found guilty of two ICC code of conduct breaches during his side's first Test match against South Africa. Sreesanth was found guilty of the offences after a hearing conducted by match referee Roshan Mahanama following the completion of India's 123-run win at Johannesburg's Wanderers stadium that finished on Monday. He was found to have acted contrary to the spirit of the game and also violated the rules on shirt logos.
Sreesanth was ruled to have shown unsporting behaviour when, after dismissing Hashim Amla in South Africa's second innings, he ran towards the batsman. The charge was brought by on-field umpires Mark Benson and Daryl Harper and third umpire Karl Hurter and Sreesanth pleaded guilty. The other charge was a breach of ICC logo policy. That policy states that all garments worn under the playing shirt in a Test match must themselves be plain white and this was something that was also referred to in the match referee's pre-series meeting. Sreesanth however wore a black garment under his shirt while batting and then later in the day, after this had been pointed out, although he took to the field in a white garment under his playing shirt, it displayed a commercial logo. Both hearings were attended by the three umpires mentioned above as well as Sreesanth, India captain Rahul Dravid and India team manager Chetan Desai.
