Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 21 December 2009 /

It's been a busy 12 months for match referees and in the past week, six more international cricketers have been sent to the naughty step. Andrew Hughes tells us more.

The recently concluded three-match Test bout between Australia and West Indies was a little spicier than anticipated. Perhaps it was the fact that the men from the Caribbean put up a decent fight in Games Two and Three that niggled with the Aussies, but whatever the reason, by the end of the Perth Test, four Australians had been disciplined compared to one West Indian.

Across the Indian Ocean, MS Dhoni has also fallen foul of the ICC Code of Conduct, picking up a two-match ban after the one day international in Nagpur. His ban is a result of the recently toughened-up rules on over-rates, under which a captain can be fined or suspended for allowing his bowlers to trundle through their overs too slowly. In this case, the game finished 45 minutes late due to frequent discussions amongst the Indian players. Because their over rate was more than two overs slower than the stipulated minimum, it triggered a relatively harsh Level 2 punishment

This flurry of disciplinary activity has capped a busy year for match referees. To date, 35 players have been charged under the Code of Conduct, with those found to have transgressed punished by fines, sometimes significant, or suspensions. The Code itself has been strengthened considerably since its first incarnation in 1992, when only a handful of players were charged and punishments usually consisted of the rather feeble sounding reprimand or a suspended ban.

These days, there is a wide range of offences under which players can be charged, from abusing equipment and displaying unauthorised logos to match-fixing or failing drugs tests. Lines of authority can become blurred in the more serious offences, with individual cricket boards choosing to take their own action, pre-empting the ICC, as happened when Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar failed drugs tests or when Harbhajan Singh gave his Indian teammate Sreesanth a slap.

In the case of Harbhajan, because his offence took place during the IPL, he was punished by the BCCI under their own code of conduct. For a time, it seemed possible that the ICC might take action and if they had done so, his act of violence would have been considered a Level 4 breach. Though there is some flexibility over the precise sanctions that can be meted out, a Level 4 breach is considered the most serious and could have landed Harbhajan with a lifetime ban.

Aside from match-fixing, betting and drug-related offences, the biggest punishment that the ICC has handed out for on-field misdemeanours remains the five-match ban given to Darren Lehman in 2003, for an overheard racially offensive remark when he was returning to the pavilion in a match against Sri Lanka. Three other players have copped for a four-match ban because of Level 3 breaches, the most famous of which was Inzamam ul-Haq after his sulk at the Oval in 2006.

But as the Code of Conduct becomes stronger and more all encompassing, there is increasing pressure on match referees, who after all, have no legal training. Chris Broad's punishment of Suleiman Benn at Perth has been cited in some quarters as unfair and in others as biased. Benn received a Level 2 suspension, whilst Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson got away with Level 1 fines. The reason for this appears to be that Benn pleaded not guilty, but Broad's explanation of his decision did not appear to convince everybody.

Still, it is good news for the ICC that the punishments for slow over-rates appear to be accepted in most parts as necessary to improve the spectacle for paying customers. During last year's Indian tour, Ricky Ponting copped some flak for deliberately bowling his part-time bowlers in a crucial period of the Fourth Test, in order to avoid a one game suspension. Perhaps he should have taken his punishment and had a rest. In Dhoni's absence, India, led by Virender Sehwag, secured a comfortable victory to take the third one-day international in Cuttack. They lead Sri Lanka 2-1 and are [1.71] to win the series by beating the tourists in Kolkata on Christmas Eve.

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